The New Girl
by GraydonGirl
Summary: Paige and Alex are over, and a hot new girl comes to Degrassi but who will get her? Paige and Alex both have their eyes on her but will she go for the cheerleader or the hot bad girl? Is she even gay? So many questions read to find the answers![NOT PALEX]
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: A new beginning**

It was the gang's last year at Degrassi, meaning Marco, Paige, Hazel, Jimmy, Spinner and Alex would all be leaving next year. Paige and Alex had dated before but broke it off a few weeks ago due to their _differences_. Right now they weren't exactly on the best speaking terms so they just basically avoided each other. It was another morning at Degrassi, school hadn't started yet so everyone was basically hanging out on the steps in front of the school. Marco and Alex were off to the side trying to avoid Paige and the rest of the group. Marco was like a gay mediator, he would try and help Paige and Alex to become friends again, but he knew it would take some time.

Just then a car pulled up to the school parking lot, it was a black Jaguar, it looked brand new, in fact, if it were any shinier, people probably wouldn't be able to look directly at it. The car caught everyone's attention; it wasn't everyday a sleek, new car pulled into the Degrassi parking lot. Sure, other kids had their own cars but none as nice as this one. Everyone couldn't help but stare at the car as they awaited the driver to step out of the car. Slowly but surely the car door opened and a leather high heeled boot touched the ground, then the other one, soon a full figured girl stepped out of the car. She wore tight jeans that hugged her just right, a gorgeous top that showed off her body and black aviator sunglasses covered her eyes. She had red-ish brown wavy hair that looked like it took hours to do. She bent into the back seat to pull out a shoulder strapped book bag that went perfectly with her outfit. It looked like she was in her early twenties, but she probably just looked old for her age. She closed the door to her car and looked at Degrassi, not even noticing all the people staring at her. She looked a little like Danneel Harris from One Tree Hill, she had natural beauty and more. Everyone kind of turned away instantly and started talking with each other, obviously talking about the new girl. Everyone turned away but two people, Paige Michalchuk and Alex Nunez. They were obviously interested in this beautiful girl who just looked like she stepped out of a fashion magazine. She stared back at the two girls making sure they noticed her and then casually walked up the steps and into the school. She was chewing gum, yet somehow made it look sext, She walked by Alex who was sitting on the ground and tipped her sunglasses to the end of her nose to get a better look at her and then pushed them back up and kept on walking, still just smacking her gum. Paige and Alex's eyes obviously followed her until she was out of site. After seeing the girl they looked back at each other realizing one another was checking the girl out.

"who was that?" a curious Paige asked anyone in her group.

"I don't know but she was hot!" Spinner said before Paige hit him in the gut.

"ow!" Spinner said making it obvious.

"Spin, don't degrade women like that!" Paige said

"oh don't give me that, I know you were looking at her too. Who better than the new girl to get over Alex." He said. Just then the bell rang signaling the students that they had 5 minutes to get to their classes.

"alright, let's go" Jimmy said as he started to turn around in his wheel chair. Everyone started to walk into the building but Paige couldn't help but think about the girl, she was so hot and Paige knew it.

While Paige was talking to her group Alex talked to Marco.

"who is she?" Alex asked Marco who was studying for a Science test he had that day.

"I don't know, so she must be new in school." He said not looking up from his science text book.

"fresh meat, perfect" Alex said. Then the bell rang forcing Alex and Marco to groan and go to class. Alex and Marco had the same Science class period one so they walked together. Alex looked for the new girl in the hallways but couldn't spot her. _She's probably in the office getting registered _she thought to her self and gave up her search.

"so are you ready for the test" Marco asked.

"yup" she replied

"wow, Alex Nunez is finally prepared for a class" Marco said bluntly

"shut up. I've actually been doing well in my classes for a few weeks."

"why the sudden change?" he asked

"while me and Paige were dating we would have _study dates_. Little did I know we would actually study. So now I'm just in that habit I guess." She said. 10 minutes into the test Alex finished and handed her test into the teacher for her to mark. The teacher was shocked to say none the less, she didn't expect anybody to be done for about 45 minutes. She was about to start marking as a telephone rang within the class, every class room had one, it was like the teacher's personal P.A. system with in the school.

"Room 208, Mrs. Jackson speaking" the science teacher said.

"alright sure, I'll uhh, I'll send Alex Nunez down" she said as she pointed to Alex and signaled her to come talk to her.

"yeah?" Alex said to her science teacher.

"Mrs. Hatzilakos needs someone down to give a student a tour of the school, and since you're the only one done I figured you could do it. You can get your homework assignment from Marco after class okay?" she asked

"okay sure." Alex said as she walked out the door. She didn't really want to give someone a tour of the school, but if it means she gets to cut class she might as well. Alex went back to her seat and grabbed her bag and walked out the door to the principal's office.

Alex walked into the office and saw the secretary. "Alex Nunez, I'm here to see the principal." She said

"have a seat please" the secretary said. Alex sat down in the seat and took out her iPod and turned on her music.

A few minutes later the principal opened her door "come in" the principal said.

"hi, so you wanted me to give someone a tour of the school?" Alex asked taking her headphones out and putting around her neck, but didn't actually turn the music off.

"yes, uh Alex Nunez this is Charlotte Barker" the principal said pointing to the girl in the chair in front of her desk. She got up and walked over to Alex and stuck her hand out for Alex to shake. Alex shook her hand but didn't say anything, it was the hot girl that she saw in the parking lot.

"Charlotte, nice to meet you" Alex said out of courtesy.

"you too. But please call me Charlie." she said cheerfully.

"okay well you two have the rest of the period to go see the school, after that I want you two back in class okay?" Mrs. Hatzilakos asked.

"alright sure." Alex said as she and the new girl walked out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: A tour and a half**

"Aerosmith?" Charlie asked.

"what?" Alex asked confused.

"you're music, it's Aerosmith."

"yeah, call it an obsession" Alex said turning off her iPod. The two started walking in silence.

"so you're the girl who showed up in the jaguar today, huh?" Alex asked trying to make conversation.

"guilty. Why? Were you watching me?" she asked slyly.

"umm well I think everyone at school was watching you. Plus I saw you check me out as you walked by." Alex said smiling

"please…" Charlie said. "I was only looking at you because you were looking at me" she said flirtatiously.

"well, It's not everyday a hot new girl shows up in a hot new jaguar."

"oh, so you think I'm hot?" she asked stopping in the hall way. Alex hadn't really noticed that she said hot until Charlie mentioned it.

Alex froze knowing she was caught "did I say hot? I meant…uhh…" Alex tried to come up with something but her mind was blank. "no, no I really did mean hot, sorry" Alex tried not to make eye contact with her but couldn't help her self.

"don't be sorry, it's a compliment. Plus you're not so bad yourself." She said with a wink. Before Alex could say anything Charlie started to continue with the tour.

"so you drive? That means you are in grade 12 then?" Alex asked

"you know it" she replied.

"yeah, me too"

"so what's down this hall way?" Charlie asked like she didn't care what grade Alex was in.

"uh this would be the science hallway. Actually our school has 6 distinct hallways between the two floors. There is the science hall, tech hall, business hall, and the gym hallway. And upstairs are the Math and moderns halls."

"moderns?" she asked

"uhh, things like languages, english classes, geography, history… that sort of stuff."

"Oh okay, that seems cool." She said casually putting her hands into her pockets. "where's the cafeteria?"

"oh that would be in the business hall. The hall ways may seem a little confusing at first, but you'll get use to it. So what's your story?" Alex asked.

"hmmm my story?, okay let's see… well my dad just transferred law firms so I just kind of started going here, luckily they let me transfer in the middle of a semester."

"so where did you come from then?" Alex asked trying to start a conversation.

"born and raised in Brooklyn" she said.

"a Brooklyn baby huh? I have some family in Brooklyn, I go down there every few years to see them." Alex said

"cool" she said. They continued walking the halls just to waste some time and talk a little. By the time the bell rang Alex and Charlie had made their way to the steps outside of Degrassi and just talked.

"well I better get to class, thanks for the tour Alex."

"yeah, anytime." She started but quickly stopped Charlie before she went inside "Hey Charlie, listen I know you're new here at school so do you want to have lunch with me and my friend? Say we meet at table 3 at 12:15?" Alex asked

"see you then" she said walking backwards and biting her lip. Alex knew that she was interested in Charlie but wasn't quite sure if Charlie was interested in her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Time to Learn**

Everyone walked into the classroom and took their seats, at the very last possible second Charlie ran into the classroom. She handed a piece of paper to the teacher and then took an empty seat near the back of the classroom.

"just in time" the teacher said as she smiled at Charlie. "Class we have a new student here at Degrassi, I know that you will all give her a warm welcome. Charlie Barker" Charlie just smiled at everyone because she knew they were all staring at her. The teacher carried on with her lesson but Charlie noticed the girl next to her was still staring at her. She looked at her and smiled.

"so Charlie is it?" she asked in a whisper trying to not let the teacher hear her.

"yeah" Charlie replied.

"I'm Paige" she said.

"hi" Charlie said trying to focus on the teacher. Until she realized that Paige was one of the girls looking her at in the morning.

"weren't you one of the girls who was staring at me this morning when I came to school?" Charlie asked. Paige just felt embarrassed and just ignored the question.

"so what do you think of Degrassi so far?" She asked obviously not interested in learning today.

"from the people I saw and met, I have to say this school isn't bad. I would have thought that moving around would suck but it's pretty interesting." Charlie said.

"really? Who did you meet? I know like, everyone in this school." Paige said bragging, trying to impress Charlie.

"no one in particular, but uh there is this one person I met this morning, she gave me a tour of the school, her name's Alex." Charlie said smiling while she reminisced on memories she made less than 10 minutes ago.

"Alex Nunez?" Paige asked completely surprised.

"yeah you know her?" Charlie asked suddenly interested.

"you could say that…" Paige said losing interest in the subject and going back to paying attention to the teacher.

"what? Are you two like enemies or something?" Charlie asked once she heard the resentment in Paige's voice.

"well actually, she's not so much my enemy, more like my ex" Paige said as if it was nothing to her.

"oh ok." Charlie said.

"why are you interested in her?" Paige said looking for gossip.

"no. You know I'm just trying to keep my options open you know?" Charlie said winking at Paige. Paige blushed a deep shade of red catching what Charlie was winking at. Soon enough the bell rang and the class was gone. Charlie walked out of the class room before Paige could say another word to her.

Paige had Math next period, usually her teacher would go over last night's homework and then assign some more, so Paige had the majority of the class to think about Charlie, and boy did she. All she could think about was how beautiful she looked, she had amazing style and might be interested in Paige, which was shocking because their were very few girls who were interested in girls at this school, never mind how amazing they looked. This girl could be the girl of Paige's dreams and she was willing to fight for her.

Mean while Alex had a free period so she decided to spend it in an empty hallway somewhere in the school. She planned to read or something but her thoughts were occupied. She couldn't wait until lunch when she and Charlie could go out, of course Marco would be there but still she would be able to spend time with Charlie. She thought about how fun Charlie was and then began to smile knowing that Paige would want her too. But it didn't matter because Alex was willing to fight for her.

It was 12:14 and Charlie was sitting alone at the table Alex told her to meet at. Paige walked up to Charlie to see that she was sitting alone.

"hey hun, trying the loner chic on for size?" Paige asked

"uh, not exactly" Charlie said with a nervous chuckle

"then what are you doing?" Paige asked confused, until she saw Charlie look behind Paige.

"Hey you ready to go?" Alex asked not even stopping to say hi to Paige.

"we're going out?" Charlie said as she got up and quickly followed Alex. Alex knew what Paige was trying to do, but as long as she was around Paige wouldn't get anything done.

"bye Paige" Charlie quickly said as she ran away.

"bye" was all Paige could say, but by the time she said it Charlie and Alex were already out the door. Paige wouldn't admit it but she knew that she was jealous of Alex, but that would change soon. Charlie and Alex walked outside to meet up with Marco who was already sitting in his car waiting for them.

"company?" Marco asked when he saw a girl walking beside Alex.

"yeah, this is Charlie. I met her today and invited her for lunch, is that okay?" Alex asked.

"sure, the more the merrier" Marco replied.

"when you asked me to hang out at lunch today I didn't actually think we would go out, I thought we were going to stay in the café." Charlie said as she got into the back seat and put on her seat belt.

"please, the stuff they serve in there doesn't deserve to be called food" Marco said making the two girls laugh.

"oh by the way, this is Marco, he's gay" Alex said like it was nothing.

"thanks Alex, why don't you just broadcast it to the world." Marco said sarcastically.

"well why don't you get me a megaphone and I'll be happy to." Alex said jokingly.

"so where are we going?" Charlie asked chuckling.

"oh we're just going to the normal hang out around the corner, it's called the Dot." Alex said

"cool" Charlie said. Within minutes the three friends had settled in at the Dot and order drinks and food.

"so Charlie, I saw your car this morning, very impressive. It looks new" Marco said taking a sip of coke.

"yeah, it's kind of a guilt present from my dad for making me move" Charlie said.

"nice" he replied.

"so what kind of stuff are you into? Any sports? Or activites?" Alex asked trying to learn more about this pretty girl.

"not really, I dance a little and play a little softball, I guess" Charlie said. _Softball_ Alex thought, interesting, she saw other girls playing softball during the school, as a part of their uniform they had to wear spandex shorts, which Alex was all for.

"you dance?" Marco asked. Charlie just nodded.

"well we don't have a dance team at this school but we have a cheerleading team, the captain's a friend of ours" He said until Alex kicked him under the table. He shot a look at her not knowing why, but then figured it out.

"well, she's a friend of _mine_… Her name's Paige."

"oh I met a girl named Paige today in my English class. Do you think it's the same one?" Charlie asked

"yeah, must be, there is only one Paige at Degrassi. You should talk to her about it." He said noticing the death stare on Alex's face.

"yeah maybe I will." Charlie said thinking.

"so softball huh? Maybe I can come see you play some time. I mean _we_… can come see you play" Alex said correcting herself and trying to play it cool.

"sure I'd like that" Charlie said. Just then the food came.

"so is the food here any good?" she asked

"it's decent, its no 5 star restaurant but its better than the slop they serve in the cafeteria" Alex said

"I hear that" Marco said. Soon enough lunch was over and it was almost time to get back to school. Marco had decided to go to the bathroom for a few minutes before they leave.

"so listen Alex, since you did such a great job showing me around the school today, what do you say to showing me around the town tonight?" Charlie asked. Alex was surprised but very happy, but she contained it.

"alright you know I'm willing to show of my excellent tour guide skills anytime."

"so how about I pick you up at your place say around 5:30pm?" Charlie asked. Alex didn't really want Charlie to see where she lived, plus she had work tonight, but she could get half of the night off if she begged Meeri.

"umm instead of my place why don't you swing by the movie theatre?" Alex asked.

"movies? You mean like a date?" Charlie asked trying to show no emotion.

"um, not quite, I work at the movies so we'll just meet there instead, okay?" Alex asked

"a working girl huh? That's cool. So 5:30." She said as she saw Marco walking back from the bathroom.

"remind me to wait until we get back to school next time. Let's go!" He said as he grabbed his jacket and walked out the door. The girls just laughed and followed him. Charlie, Marco and Alex all made it back to school just in time to catch the bell, they hurried to class.

"bye Alex see you later" Charlie said in a sexy voice

"Bye Charlie" Alex said softly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Back to a little thing called education.**

Last period, Alex and Charlie didn't have the same class, unfortunately but Alex did have her class with Marco. Once they settled in they started talking.

"so what do you think about Charlie?" Alex asked Marco.

"I think she's cool. And I know I'm gay and all but she is HOT!" he said emphasizing hot.

"yeah, so I noticed." Alex said

"so you like her?" Marco asked interested. Marco was like the male version of Paige, always looking for some sort of gossip.

"yeah, but I can't really figure out if she's gay or not." She said looking at Marco. "what do you think?"

"I'm not quite sure, the girl's got a very feminine/straight style, but then again she seemed kind of like she was flirting with you at lunch today."

"but what about that car, the jag? That's pretty butch for a girl" Alex said pointing out.

"yeah I guess, okay well try this, look at her jewelry, if she wears the kind of jewelry where it's all like big beads and matching colours, then she's straight, if she's wearing things like silver necklaces or bracelets, she's gay." He said. Alex looked down at her wrists and noticed she was wearing silver bangles. All she could do was smile because she never noticed it before but what Marco said was true.

"what else?" Alex asked to see if their were any more tell tale signs.

"umm her earrings" Marco said snapping as if he just remembered them. "Usually lesbians don't wear earrings that dangle down or anything like that, they're more into studs, multiple earrings or in some cases, hoops." Marco said looking at Alex, seeing that she was wearing hoops right now.

"jesus, is it that obvious that I'm gay?" Alex asked

"no, no, no" Marco said trying to pull it off, but Alex just stared back at him. "okay, well maybe a little" he corrected as he held up is thumb and index finger indicating how little it was.

"okay well that doesn't matter anyways" Marco started to say.

"how can you say that it doesn't matter?" Alex asked

"well, when has anyone's sexuality stopped you before?" he said smiling. He was right, when Alex started to like Paige, she didn't care if she was straight or gay, all she knew was that she liked her. And that was enough for her.

"we're going out tonight you know?" Alex said

"like on a date?" Marco asked

"I don't really know…" Alex said scratching her head. "she asked me to show her around town"

Meanwhile…

Not surprisingly at all Charlie just happened to have her last period class with none other than Paige, naturally. Paige saw Charlie walk into the class and struggled to look for a seat to sit in.

"Charlie! Over here!" Paige yelled out and pointed to the seat next to hers.

"thanks, Paige" Charlie said as she sat down next to her.

"so how was lunch with Alex?" Paige asked being nosy

"fine"

"anyone else go with?"

"yeah a guy named Marco, he's pretty cool. So listen I heard that you are head cheerleader here at Degrassi?" Charlie asked

"you know it" Paige said being smug. "why are you interested because I could probably pull some strings if you want."

"really? That would be so cool."

"sure thing hun, why don't you come to the gym after school today and I'll get you a late audition for the season."

"yeah okay, that sounds great."

"so do you have any experience in cheerleading or something?" Paige asked

"umm not exactly, I'm more into dancing, you know like hip hop and breaking." Charlie said.

"oh you're going to have to show me some of your moves sometime" Paige said winking.

"well maybe you'll get to see me in action after school today" Charlie said flirtatiously. Paige couldn't help but blush a little. Charlie noticed and gave out a little giggle, which just made Paige blush more.

"you know, I like your laugh Charlie… it's cute." Paige said this time making Charlie blush.

"well I like the shade of blush that appears on your face every time I say something" Charlie said touching Paige's face. Paige's head looked like it was about to explode because of how red she was from blushing.

"and it just keeps getting darker doesn't it?" Charlie asked not expecting an answer, knowing exactly why Paige was blushing. Eventually last period had ended and this time Paige actually got a few words in to Charlie before she left.

"so Charlie, meet in the gym in say 20 minutes?" Paige asked.

"okay sure! Oh wait, I forgot… I don't even have any clothes to change into. You know stylish doesn't necessarily mean flexible." She said pointing down at her clothes.

"um okay, no prob, just come with me." Paige and Charlie headed out of the classroom and went to Paige's locker. "here, you can use these." Paige said as she handed a pair of shoes, shorts and a t-shirt to her.

"thanks Paige, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"sure thing, now go get changed and I'll see you in the gym." Paige said as she slapped Charlie on the ass to make her move faster.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Bring it on**

Within minutes the cheerleaders had gathered in the gym for their daily practice. Paige was briefing them on their up coming events.

"next week we have a basketball game and a girls rugby game, which we are going to practice for as soon as we audition a new girl." Paige said.

"wait! What?" Manny shouted out. "you're auditioning a new girl? We already have a full squad!" she said angrily.

"okay well this girl has experience and I'm willing to give her a chance, and in the end we will decided together, as a squad, whether or not she makes the cut okay?" Paige said knowing that none of the other girls would dare defy her because she was the head cheerleader.

"so where is this prodigy?" one of the girls asked. Just then the door opened up.

"here she is now" Paige said looking at Charlie. When she saw her she couldn't take her eyes off of her. The shirt Paige gave her fit her perfectly enough to show off her amazing body and she also managed to pull up her shorts to show off her long legs, all topped off by the ever so stylish side pony tail.

"so this is why you had a last minute audition? You have the hots for some new girl?" Manny whispered in an angry tone.

"shut up Manny. I do not have the hots for her." Paige shot back.

Charlie walked across the gym to the corner where all the girls were. Paige was so engulfed by her beauty that is seemed like Charlie was walking in slow motion. But Paige quickly zipped back to reality.

"are you ready hun?" Paige asked.

"I was born ready" Charlie replied confidently.

"alright good." Paige said as she put her arm around her should and turned around to face the team. "Ladies, let me introduce you to Charlie, Charlie _these_ are your judges. Now we're ready when you are, babe" Paige said as she stepped away from Charlie and took a seat on the bleachers.

"alright here goes nothing" Charlie said as she started her routine. Charlie was the shit, not only could she bend and twist like a Russian gymnast but she could dance, and she had rhythm. All the girls seemed to be impresses, some of the other girls were even jealous at how good she was. After Charlie was done she was sweating a little, but even that looked hot on her.

"okay uh, Charlie could you wait outside for a minute while the girls and I talk?" Paige asked her.

"sure, I'm gonna get a drink of water." Charlie said as she jogged out of the room.

"so? Was I right or was I right?" Paige asked the other cheerleaders.

"I've got to say Michalchuk, she was good, damn good. Maybe even better than you. I think I speak for the rest of the squad when I say she is definitely Degrassi cheerleader material." Manny finished. The rest of the girls just nodded in agreement.

"Great! Now I'll go break the great news to her." Paige said as she skipped off towards the exit.

While outside of the gym getting a drink of water, someone walked up behind her and said

"hey! Save some water for the fish!" a female voice said.

"oh sorry—" was all Charlie said before she turned around to see who it was.

"Alex? Jeez I thought you were some bully about to kick my ass" Charlie said as she put her hand over her heart as if she was about to have a heart attack.

"Oh don't worry, I would never kick your ass" Alex said. "so what are you still doing here Barker?"

"well, _Nunez_, if you must know I am trying out for the cheerleading squad." Charlie said. Alex's stomach sank, she knew if Charlie made the team she would be spending every afternoon with Paige.

"try outs huh? That's… interesting." Alex said awkwardly. Just then Paige came out of the gym and spotted Charlie down the hall way. She was about to run to her to tell her the good news until she saw who she was talking to. She knew that Alex was probably hitting on her so she decided to go and break it up.

"Hey Charlie, we're ready for you in the gym" Paige said enthusiastically smiling at her. "Alex." She said with no emotion as her smile dropped down to a neutral face.

"Paige." Alex said like Paige said her name.

"wow, you guys must have had a rough break up." Charlie walking back towards the gym doors.

"you know about us?" Alex asked making Charlie turn around to talk to her.

"yeah… Paige told me earlier today" she said. Paige just grinned at Alex acting like she was better than her. Paige and Alex didn't even break eye contact for a while.

"okay, that's cool. I'll see you tonight right?" Alex asked to rub it in Paige's face, who seemed hurt.

"yeah, of course, tonight at the movies, got it." Charlie said as she ran into the gym trying to escape the two.

"you're going out on a date?" Paige asked angrily.

"I would tell you, but it's really none of your business, sorry" Alex said fakely and walked away with her head held high.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: A night on the town**

Alex had it all planned out, with a little begging and her famous 'sad face' Alex was able to get off work at 5:15pm which would leave her 15 minutes to get ready for Charlie and get changed out of this hideous uniform. Charlie on the other hand wanted to see what Alex looked like so she decided to show up a little early. The line at the candy counter was a little busy, which was weird for a Monday evening. Alex barely had any time to look up to see what the customer looked like, she was so busy.

"hi welcome to the movies, what can I get for you?" Alex asked as she repeated the line she was forced to memorize for the job.

"umm yeah, I'll have a pack of sour peaches and an evening with a hot candy counter girl." The customer said. Alex looked up knowing she knew that voice.

"Charlie, what are you doing here? You're like 20 minutes early" Alex said looking down at her watch. For a second there she thought that she was running late.

"well I wanted to see where you worked…" Charlie started but started laughing "… and I wanted to see your lovely uniform" she said touching Alex's visor and laughing even harder.

"alright, you got your laughs, I'll be out in a few minutes hold on" Alex said as she went into the back room to change. A few minutes later she came out in a sexy black skirt, and a white, collared blouse with a loose black tie around it.

"looking good Nunez" Charlie said. Ever since that afternoon Charlie and Alex have been using their last names as nicknames and were getting use to it.

"why thank you Barker. Now let's go have a night out on the town." Alex said as she grabbed Charlie's hand and skipped out the door.

"okay so where first?" Charlie asked.

"umm, well first I'll show you where the malls are and then some places where a lot of my friends hang out and then how about we grab a bite to eat after that?"

"alright cool" Charlie said as she pulled her hair behind her ear revealing two cartilage piercings and one normal piercing. Just then Alex remembered what Marco had said.

_Flashback_

"_Usually lesbians don't wear earrings that dangle down or anything like that, they're more into studs, multiple earrings or in some cases, hoops."_

_End of flashback_

Alex was happy, it was a sign that she was gay but she still wasn't sure because when she went to check Charlie's jewelry she saw that she didn't wear any bracelets but was wearing a beaded necklace that she folded over to look like she was wearing two. Charlie looked over at Alex in the car and noticed that Alex was looking at her jewelry, but she just smiled and didn't say anything.

Alex knew that Charlie saw her looking at her and just smiled awkwardly. After about driving around in Charlie's jaguar for about an hour they stopped at a restaurant to get some food. The restaurant wasn't anything fancy but it was better than the Dot. They got a small table for two that had a candle at the side of the table to provided some extra light. The two girls spent the dinner just casually talking and laughing, thankfully there were no awkward silences, but when it came to the bill Alex insisted she pay for it. She took out some money and gave it to the waiter. While waiting for the change Alex and Charlie continued talking.

"so does you paying for the bill qualify this as a date?" Charlie asked slyly. Alex knew that Charlie was flirting with her a little and at this point in the night, she didn't care if Charlie was gay or not, she liked her.

"no, but this does" Alex said as she leaned across the table and kissed Charlie on the lips. Alex started to pull back from the kiss and sat down in her chair, but before she could Charlie grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her in for a heavier kiss.

"I hope that answers any questions you had" Charlie said smirking because she knew that Alex was trying to figure out if she was lesbian or not.

Alex couldn't help but chuckle a little because she knew she had been caught. "so I guess you saw me looking at you in the car huh?"

"oh yeah, let me guess, you were checking my earrings and jewelry" Charlie said confidently.

"yeah… yeah I was" Alex said looking embarrassed. The waiter came back with their change, Alex left a few dollars for tip and she and Charlie left the restaurant. It was still early so Alex and Charlie decided to go somewhere else for the rest of the night. Alex and Charlie drove a little out of their way to get to where Alex wanted to go just to get away from the city a little. After about a half hour of driving they finally pulled into a parking lot beside an open soccer/football field.

Alex started to get out of the car and Charlie just followed, "this isn't the part where you tell me your deepest darkest secret and then kill me is it?" Charlie asked.

"no. this is the part where you and me sit on the hood of your car and watch the stars." Alex said as she jumped up on the top of the car.

"oh the stars, how romantic" Charlie said kind of making a joke. After sitting on the hood of the car for a few minutes, as corny and cliché it may be, Alex and Charlie both saw a shooting star.

"make a wish" Alex said looking at the star.

"mine already came true" Charlie said smiling and she leant back on the car. Alex couldn't help but smile knowing what she was talking about. Charlie's jacket fell off the side of the car so she turned to grab it. When her back was facing Alex her shirt rode up a little bit. Alex didn't really think anything of it until she saw something, it was a tattoo of a heart with wings on the sides.

Alex smiled as she rolled over behind Charlie and put her hand on the tattoo and whispered "what's this?" Charlie jumped a little bit when she felt Alex's touch. She turned back over to see Alex lying right beside her with her hand on the Charlie's side.

"just a little 18th birthday present to myself" Charlie said.

"it's cute" Alex replied staring into Charlie's eyes, they were just inches apart. In the heat of the moment Alex and Charlie just started kissing. Alex didn't really notice but Charlie had started kissing her neck and even her shirt a little bit. Not even realizing how late it was, they didn't even care. Alex's hand was still on Charlie's side until it started moving around and feeling Charlie's ass. Alex gave a little squeeze until Charlie pulled away.

"uh uh…" Charlie said shaking her head and putting Alex's hand back on Alex's body.

"uh huh?" Alex said putting her back on Charlie's side. But Charlie just grabbed it and put it back on Alex.

"I don't do more than kiss on the first date" Charlie said wiping a little bit of lip stick off of Alex mouth.

"okay that's fine, we'll just talk instead" Alex said

"oh and talk about what?" Charlie asked.

"just stuff… like what's your favourite colour."

"green, you?"

"red" Alex replied.

"favourite band?" Charlie asked.

"I like Aerosmith, but besides them I don't have one"

"me neither" replied Charlie. "I'm more into listening to random songs, if I like it I'll put it on my iPod."

"I know what you mean, I do the exact same thing" Alex said back.

"favourite candy." Charlie said no longer asking in question form.

"M&M's, yours?"

"I have to say, I have a weakness for fuzzy peaches" Charlie said.

Alex laughed "I'll have to remember that for our next date"

"okay here's a good one, are you out to your parents yet?"

"no..." Alex said "what about you?

"yes." Charlie said.

"how did they take it?" Alex asked

"well they weren't the happiest but I knew my parents would love me no matter what and they soon got over it. Now they're perfectly fine with it." Charlie said

"do they know that we're dating?" Alex asked.

"yes"

"oh and what did they say?" Alex asked

"well they said that if got serious that they want to meet you" Charlie replied

"oh great, parents…" Alex said sarcastically. "how old were you when you realized and or came out?"

"okay, well I realized when I was about 15 or 16, and came out just after I turned 17." Charlie said. "when did you realize?"

"when I fell for Paige" Alex said trying not to make it important.

"how many girls do you think you've dated?" Charlie said trying to change the subject from Paige.

"4 or 5, you?"

"11" Charlie replied a little embarrassed.

"11?!" Alex asked shocked. Charlie just shrugged. "you whore" Alex said jokingly.

"favourite movie?" Charlie asked raising one eyebrow.

"hmm. That's a tough one. I'd have to say the sound of music" Alex replied. Charlie just gasped.

"wow! I never figured you for a musical kind of a girl! Interesting…" Charlie said. "well mine is definitely Chicago." Alex gasped just in a mocking way.

"wow! _I_ would have never figured _you_ for a musical kind of a girl either!" Alex said. Realizing they had so much in common they were all over each other. Alex felt Charlie's touch and wanted more but she knew that it was time to go. Alex and Charlie got back into the car and drove off.

"so where do you live?" Charlie asked. Alex didn't really think of Charlie dropping her off, but she didn't want her to see where she lived so she made up an excuse.

"oh umm, I told Marco I would just come over to his house tonight, I forgot something last week and I need to pick it up. So if you just drop me off at Marco's I'll get a ride from him." Alex said making up and excuse.

"are you sure, cause I could give you a ride home" Charlie said.

"no, no it's alright, just drop me off here." Alex said as she pulled up in front of Marco's house. "great thanks, I'll see you tomorrow." Alex said as she kissed Charlie again quickly and gave her a wink. Before Alex could leave Charlie pulled her back for a second and kissed Alex's white collar.

"here's a little keep sake" she said as she left a perfect imprint of her lipstick on Alex's collar.

Alex just shut the door and Charlie drove off. Alex walked up to Marco's house and rang the door bell. Marco opened the door and invited her in. A few minutes later Alex and Marco were up in his room talking.

"so how did it go?" Marco asked interested.

"it went good…" she said casually.

"so I guess she's gay, huh?" Marco said smiling.

"how did you know?" Alex asked. Marco pointed to spot on her shirt. Alex ran over to the closest mirror to check her collar, she had forgotten that Charlie kissed her shirt. She was examining her collar when she noticed her neck, she had a hickie from when they were making out on the hood of the car.

"oh shit" Alex said rubbing her neck,

"what?" he asked

"this…" Alex said pointing to her neck. Marco's jaw dropped and he burst out laughing.

"oh I can't wait until everyone sees tomorrow." Marco said laughing hysterically.

"shut up" Alex said trying not to break out laughing like Marco.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Sweaters in Summer**

The next day at school both Charlie and Alex were excited to see each other. Once again Marco and Alex were out on the front steps of Degrassi waiting for yet another school day to start. Of course Alex was more excited to see Charlie. And of course Charlie had just happened to pull up at that moment. Charlie being the way she looked, couldn't make an entrance with out being noticed. She pulled into the parking lot with loud rock music blaring. She stepped out of the car, again, wearing heels, a short pleated skirt that showed off her beautiful longs legs, a red camisole to show off her hot body and to top it off her hair was dead straight. To Charlie's dismay Alex was wearing tight jeans and a baggy sweater. She walked up to see Marco and Alex.

"hey guys" she said to both of them. "what's with the sweater, Nunez?" she asked. Marco started laughing knowing why she was wearing a sweater. Alex was looking around to make sure no one was looking.

"it's because of you, Barker!" Alex said

"what did I do?" Charlie asked. Alex pulled down the sweater a bit to reveal a red mark on her neck.

"oh" was all Charlie could say before she started laughing along with Marco.

"stop laughing, this isn't funny. It's fucking boiling out here because I am wearing a sweater in summer!" Alex said getting angry.

"well, it's not my fault you're so hot" Charlie said as she kissed Alex on the cheek and went inside as the bell rang.

"you're lucky you're so damn good looking, Barker." Alex yelled at Charlie before she entered the building.

"I know!" Charlie said not even turning around to look back at Alex. Who, which of course, was smiling at the thought of Charlie's cockiness.

First period went by quickly for Charlie, she was heading back to her locker to switch books. When she opened her locker a note fell out. She put her books on one of the shelves and bent down to get the note.

'_I'll get you back for this_' the note read. There was no signature but there was a lipstick imprint from someone's lips on the note. It was obviously Alex's lipstick. Charlie looked around to see if Alex was watching her, but no such luck, she just smiled and got her books out and went to her next class.

This was one of two classes she had with Paige, and in both classes she just happened to site right beside her at the back of the room. Sitting at the back of the room just made it that much easier to talk during class.

"Hey Charlie" Paige said as she took her seat next to her.

"hey Paige, what's up?" Charlie asked

"nothing really, how about you hun?" she asked back

"nothing." She replied plainly.

"so you having fun at Degrassi so far?" she asked.

"yeah, I've met some pretty cool people" Charlie said smiling. Paige knew what made Charlie's face light up, and instantly got jealous. She knew she had to do anything to break the two up. So she decided to start now. She got out a piece of paper wrote something down, folded it and passed it to Charlie.

Charlie saw the note and opened it up.

'_So how's it going between you and Alex?' _Paige wrote.

Charlie didn't want to give away her relationship with Alex too much so she wrote as little as possible.

'_Fine_' was all Charlie wrote.

'_you two getting close or what?' _Paige wrote being nosy. She knew it was just a matter of time before the teacher caught Charlie passing a note. Paige was an expert at passing notes so she knew she wouldn't get caught.

'_we're just hanging out'_ Charlie wrote. She was handing it back to Paige across the aisle when the teacher came from behind her and took the note out of her hand.

"miss. Barker… passing notes are we?" he asked opening it up and reading it inside his head.

"down to the office" he said as he pointing to the door. Charlie didn't say anything, she just gathered her books and left the room silently. Alex just happened to have a class in the room across the hallway and saw Charlie walking down the hall by herself. So she decided to go and talk to her.

"Mr. Byng, may I go to the bathroom" Alex said as she put her hand in the air.

"okay, go ahead" he said and continued with his lesson. Alex got up and left the class room. She jogged up behind Charlie and caught her by surprised.

"skipping class are we?" Alex said closely to Charlie's ear. Charlie gave a little jump and turned around to see Alex.

"hey! No. actually I got caught passing notes in class, so I'm going down to the principal's office." She said as she continued walking.

"wow" Alex stopped in the hallway with Charlie. "I knew Charlie Barker, new kid at school, Charlie Barker, hot lesbian, and now Charlie Barker, bad girl?" she asked making Charlie laugh.

"well what can I say, _I'm dangerous_" she said sarcastically. She walked into the office and sat in a chair.

"okay, I'll see you later then" Alex said returning to her class.

Later at lunch Alex, Charlie and Marco decided to eat outside instead of going out for lunch. They were sitting at the picnic table just outside of the Degrassi doors.

"so what happened in the office?" Alex asked.

"ooh… someone got in trouble" Marco said in a weird voice.

"yeah, can you believe it? I got a detention today for passing one note. How stupid is that?" she said

"who were you passing it to?" Alex asked

"who else do you know at this school?" Marco asked slightly insulting.

"hey! I know other people at school" Charlie said defending her self.

"oh yeah? Like who?" Alex asked not believing her.

"well… well there's Paige… and, and… yeah that's it" Charlie said looking down.

"Oh that's just sad now, you know three people in all of the whole school" Marco said making it worse.

"don't worry, all we need to do is get you a little social." Alex said rubbing her shoulder.

"and I know exactly how. We'll have a party this Friday, we'll invite everyone we know and you will be popular in no time." Marco said zoning off planning the whole party in his head.

"hmm, a party? Will I get to dance with anyone I want?" Charlie asked Marco but staring into Alex's eyes.

"_anyone _you want" Alex answered for Marco and smiling. Soon lunch was over and the three friends went back to class. Just before dropping Charlie off at her class Alex said something

"don't think I forgot about my revenge" she said winking and walking in the opposite direction. Charlie was excited yet nervous about what Alex had planned, especially since she didn't know what she was going to do.

Soon the day was over and Charlie was going to go to cheerleading practice until she remembered she had a detention after school. She told Paige she would be late today and headed down to the moderns hall to suffer through an hour of silence with other delinquents. She signed in with the teacher and chose a seat away from everyone else at the back of the room. She put her bag down and leaned her chair back until it hit the wall. She was about to fall over when she saw Alex walk into the room.

"Miss. Nunez? What kind of trouble did we get into today?" Mrs. Thompson asked at the front of the classroom.

"Well, I told my Chem. Teacher that that gum and superglue made for an excellent super adhesive, but she didn't believe me, that is until she sat down." Alex said smiling.

"okay, well take a seat then" the teacher said pointing to the numerous amount of empty chairs. Alex put her hands in her pocket and walked to the back of the classroom smiling.

"Charlie Barker?" Alex asked in a fake surprised voice. "Did you mean you had detention _today_?"

"ha ha, okay so you intentionally got in trouble see me?" Charlie asked

"now how could you say such a thing?" Alex asked sarcastically. She sat down beside Charlie and smiled.

"you know that since we're in detention we can't talk?" Charlie said

"oh now see that's what you think." Alex said as she pulled out her cell phone and text someone.

"what are you doing?" she whispered.

"just watch" Alex replied. Seconds later a car alarm went off in the parking lot. "Hey Mrs. Thompson, isn't that your car going off?" Alex asked. The teacher ran to the window and saw her car going off. She grabbed her keys and hustled out the door muttering something that couldn't be understood.

"you planned all of this?" Charlie asked

"I said I would get my revenge. It just happens to be now." Alex said as she leaned in to kiss Charlie.

"but won't Mrs. Thompson come back in like two minutes?" Charlie asked

"don't worry about it" Alex said as they heard the car alarm go off. They both gave a little chuckle as they went back to kissing. After about 10 minutes of making out Alex made her way to Charlie's neck, she was kissing all over until she kissed one certain spot. It was right on the collar bone, and made Charlie's breathing get heavier.

"look's like I found a weakness" Alex said smirking.

"it's just a matter of time before I find yours though" Charlie said as she began kissing Alex on the lips. Eventually detention was over and the teacher had come in just for the last few minutes to dismiss everyone. Everyone had to sign out and when Charlie was going to sign out the teacher noticed something.

"Miss. Barker, are you okay? It looks like you have a hive on your neck, maybe you're allergic to something" Mrs. Thompson said. Charlie grabbed her neck to cover it up.

"oh, don't worry Mrs. Thompson, I'll take care of her…" Alex said as she signed out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: a plan, party, and Paige**

"okay I've sent flyers out all over the school, I've made a facebook group online, and started some rumours. This party is going to be off the hook!" Marco said as he sat down beside Alex who was facing Charlie. Neither Alex nor Charlie were paying attention until Marco felt something

"okay, whoever's playing footsy with me right now better stop!" Marco said

"oh sorry Marco" Alex and Charlie said at the same time making each other giggle.

"aww aren't you two so cute" Marco said in a fake tone.

"so everything's set up for tonight?" Alex asked

"yup, so be at my place around 7:00pm" Marco said directing his attention to Charlie.

"alright cool." Charlie said. The bell rang and everyone got up to go back into the school. "Hey so do you need a ride to Marco's place? I could pick you up early and we could go out for dinner or something" Charlie said rubbing Alex's hand. Alex began to think, she still didn't want Charlie to see where she lived until a few more dates when they would get more serious.

"umm you know what? I promised Marco I would go over early and help him set up, sorry" Alex said.

"alright, that's cool. I'll see you tonight then. Bye" Charlie said as she left for her class.

"oh hey, don't forget to dress up tonight, I want you looking hot!" Alex said. Charlie just smiled and walked away.

…

Later that night Alex had showed up about an hour early to help Marco set up, seeing that Marco wasn't as tall as her she put up some streamers while he set up the punch bowl and snacks. Just to add to the party a little Marco added a little vodka to the punch bowl when Alex wasn't looking.

"so what's going on between you and Charlie now?" he asked

"what do you mean?" she asked back

"well you two have gone out on like one date and you kiss sometimes, but like are you two dating? Are you girlfriend – girlfriend? Or is this just casual?"

"umm I don't really know, why? What did Charlie say?" Alex asked

"I don't know, I never asked her" Marco said. Alex started to think, she wanted to be serious with Charlie, she really liked her, but what if Charlie just wanted casual? Now Alex was worried. 7:00pm rolled around and practically everyone from Degrassi was there, it would definitely be a party for the books. Everyone from the Degrassi gang had shown up, even the grade elevens like Emma and Manny. It seemed like everyone was there. The music was blaring and a bubble machine was even going on upstairs so that the bubbles would slowly float to the main floor where everyone was dancing. Within minutes, Charlie had shown up at the door, she walked through the doorway and Alex caught a glimpse of her through the crowd of people. It was like Alex had just seen her for the first time, it was like she was in slow motion, but this time she had on high heels with a gorgeous black and white dress, her hair was straight but in pieces but still looked amazing on her, it was like she was made for this party.

Like the first day of school she caught everyone's attention when she walked in, the music was still playing and everyone was still dancing but they couldn't keep their eyes off of Charlie. Most of the guys wanted to date her, hell even most of the girls wanted to date her. She was just that hot.

Marco, paused the music and ran up beside Charlie, he pulled her a few steps up the stairs so that everyone could see them.

"alright guys, as you know the reason we had this party to night was to formally introduce everyone to Charlie Barker. I hope that you will all be nice to her, cause if you aren't I'll throw you out of my house myself. Now that we all know who Charlie is, let's get this party started!" and with that the music was back on and Marco ran down the stairs. Charlie just stood their to take it all in, she saw Paige and waved, until Alex came up to her. She stood on the step below Charlie's, making Charlie just a few inches higher than Alex.

"Am I sexy enough?" Charlie asked putting her arms around Alex's neck.

"I'll say…" Alex said looking Charlie up and down. "hey can we talk up stairs?"

"sure" Charlie said pulling Alex up the stairs. No one really noticed, except for Paige who was determined to break the two up.

Upstairs Alex and Charlie didn't go into any of the rooms, they just hung out around the banister over looking the party. Charlie leaned against the banister and faced Alex who instantly kissed her.

Charlie backed off a little from the kiss smiling "don't think you're going to get lucky just because we're at a raving party."

"no it's not about that" Alex said looking at Charlie. "I…I just wanted to know… what are we?"

Charlie couldn't help but laugh at the question. "what do you mean?" she asked as she grabbed Alex's hands.

"well like are you my girlfriend or is this just casual?" Alex asked

"well what do you want it to be?" Charlie said swinging their hands back and forth.

"well I want to be more than casual." Alex said shyly

"then that's what we'll be. Alex Nunez, will you be my girlfriend?" Charlie asked not so shyly.

"I would love to" Alex said as she pulled Charlie into another passionate kiss. Just then they saw someone walking up the stairs. They quickly broke the kiss when they realized who it was.

"Paige… hey…" Charlie said a little unhappy that she interrupted her time with Alex.

"hey Charlie!" Paige said enthusiastically. "…Alex" she said not so enthusiastically.

"Paige" Alex replied plainly.

"sorry guys, was I interrupting something?"

"well actually you-" Alex started but couldn't finish because Paige had cut her off.

"I was wondering where you guys were, everyone is waiting to dance with you hun. Come on!" Paige said as she grabbed Charlie and ran down stairs. Alex was angry with Paige but even sadder that she had taken Charlie away, Alex just walked slowly down the stairs knowing that the whole reason for this party was for Charlie to get to know everyone and she didn't want to stand in her way.

When Alex got downstairs she saw Paige handing a drink to Alex and introducing her to some of the guys in the school. Charlie gave Alex a little wave and a wink. Alex just smiled and went to go hang out with Marco. She saw him working away in the kitchen trying to make sure everything was perfect.

Alex walked up to Marco, grabbed a carrot and hopped up on the counter "what's up doc?" she asked making a joke.

"people are going through the chips like a freakin' wood chipper!" he said as he frantically poured more chips in the bowl.

"so I talked to Charlie…" Alex started. Marco just instantly dropped the bag of chips and faced Alex.

"and…?" Marco asked like he was about to burst.

"she is officially my girlfriend" Alex said excitedly as she jumped off the counter. Marco started hopping up and down while hugging her.

"Oh Alex I'm so happy for you, but who's going to break the news to Paige. You know she still has a huge crush on your girl." Marco said resuming back to the chips.

_My girl_ Alex thought. No one would take her girl away from her, not even Paige.

"don't worry about it fancy pants, I've got _my girl_ protected." Alex said as she walked back into the main room to find Charlie. She found Charlie in the middle of the room dancing like how Alex used to dance for her job. Charlie was holding a red cup obviously full off punch, because it was the only drink being served at the party. Alex walked up to Charlie ready to dance because it looked like she was having fun.

"hey Alex" Charlie said walking towards Alex nearly stumbling. She took a sip of her drink and looked back at Alex. Alex took the drink from her hand and smelled it curiously, she took a sip and cringed at the taste.

"whoa, okay that's not a regular punch" Alex said putting the drink in someone else's hand who was walking by.

"hey my drink…" Charlie slurred out.

"no hey, why don't you come sit down with me." Alex said grabbing Charlie's waist.

"I've got a better idea, why don't you come dance with me?" Charlie asked.

"no, no… Charlie, you're drunk. You need some coffee or something"

"no it's okay, I won't have any more _punch_ just come dance, I want to show you off" Charlie said as she walked back onto the dance floor. Alex had no choice but to follow her, and she thought since she was already out there she might as well dance. If you mix Charlie's dancing and Alex's dancing and some lesbian love you get quite a show for a wild party. Eventually Charlie and Alex got to dancing with other people and they were okay with it. That was, until Alex saw Charlie dancing with Paige. She didn't really think anything of it until she saw Charlie and Paige dancing really close. Eventually their foreheads were touching. Alex started walking towards Charlie from across the dance floor until she was frozen with fear. At that very moment she saw Paige and Charlie kiss. Charlie broke away from Paige to see Alex's eyes. They were filled with sadness, the kind of sadness that could break anyone's heart.

"Alex" Charlie said breaking away from Paige, but Paige just held on to her. Alex just held back her tears and walked away pushing through everyone in the room to get to the door.

On her way out she passed Marco. "Alex, where are you going?" he asked as Alex just opened the door and ran outside.

Back in the middle of the dance floor Paige tried to get closer to Charlie again. "get off of me" Charlie yelled pushing Paige away from her.

"what the fuck is your problem?" Paige asked

"You are my fucking problem!" Charlie yelled. Everyone turned around to see Charlie yelling at Paige. An 'ooooohh' broke out from the crowd around them.

"what are you talking about? You just kissed me!" Paige yelled.

"First of all you kissed me! And I have a fucking girlfriend!" Charlie shouted out for all to hear. Charlie started to walk away to go see if she could find Alex, until she heard something.

"Bitch!" Paige said. Everyone in the room just gasped. Charlie stopped walking away, turned around and walked right back up to Paige.

"what did you call me?" Charlie asked just inches away from Paige's face.

"you heard me. I called you a _Bitch,_ just like your girlfriend." Paige said as she crossed her arms. At this point everyone in the room was scared about what was going to happen, everyone except for Paige and Charlie.

"you're pathetic, you know that?" Charlie said to Paige. Paige was set off, before Charlie could turn to walk away she slapped Charlie right across the face. Now, Charlie was angry.

"I can't believe you just did that" Charlie said calmly even though he cheek was a bright read from Paige's hand.

"well I just did." Paige said not moving. Charlie was turning away as if she was leaving but before she did she turned right back around and punched Paige in the nose. She didn't slap her, she didn't push her, she punched Paige Michalchuk in the nose.

"don't you dare call my girlfriend a bitch, BITCH!" Charlie said and walked out of the room. A couple of people went to help Paige up but the rest just stepped out of the way to let Charlie leave. At this point everyone was afraid of her. Paige was still lying on the floor in pain, she was crying, and her nose was bleeding but the best part was the Charlie had hit her so hard that she broke her nose, and she didn't even care.

Outside Charlie looked around for Alex but couldn't see her, she would have gotten in her car and looked around for her but she was drunk and knew that it would be stupid to drive now. So instead she took off on foot. She tried thinking of all the places that Alex could have gone to within this area. She went down to the dot but it was closed, she ran down to Degrassi, but there was no sight of her, after running around for about half an hour Charlie started walking, she knew she wouldn't be able to find Alex tonight, so she just went back to Marco's.

By the time Charlie got back to his place she saw that everyone had gone home, apparently they cleared out right after the fight. She walked inside to see that the door was still open and that Marco was by himself trying to clean up the house.

Charlie walked in "hey…" she said almost crying.

Marco dropped what he was doing to go see Charlie "hey did you find Alex?" he asked

"no, I checked a bunch of places but she must have walked home or something. Everyone go home?"

"yeah, after you and Paige's little fight they didn't want to stick around, they knew nothing would top it." He said making Charlie chuckle a little. She wiped the tears out of her eyes, trying not to cry.

"you really care about her don't you?" Marco asked brushing some hair from her face just to see tears forming in her eyes.

"you know all of those movies with that perfect ending? I feel like that when I'm with Alex that one day I could get that perfect ending. It's just something about her that's different. She can make me light up just by the look on her face. She just... it's just an amazing feeling and I don't know how to describe it." Charlie said.

"…" Marco couldn't speak, he really didn't realize how in love they were.

"Anyways, about the fight, sorry, I didn't mean for it to break out in a fight. It's just Paige really pissed me off. You heard what she said didn't you?"

"yeah, don't worry about, at least everyone knows I throw the best parties now" Marco said trying to look on the bright side of things.

"yeah, but now I don't have a girlfriend. At least I don't think she wants to be my girlfriend… I don't know, I'm really drunk." Charlie said touching her head with both of her hands. When her right hand touched her head she felt a sharp pain, it must have been from when she punched Paige. She clutched her hand into her other hand.

"Don't worry about it right now, why don't you just stay the night and we'll straighten everything out tomorrow morning. Okay?" Marco said noticing Charlie's pain.

"your parents don't mind that you have a girl stay the night?" Charlie asked as she took a seat on the couch.

"uh first of all sweetie, I'm gay, my parents wouldn't really care. Second of all they've gone away for the weekend. How else do you think I was able to have this great party?" he said grabbing a blanket and pillow from the linens closet, along with a first aid kit.

"thanks Marco I really appreciate this." She said as she took the stuff from his hands. He sat down and opened up the first aid kit and pulled out the wrap. He carefully took Charlie's hand in his and started wrapping it, noticing her knuckle were severely bruised.

"I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"night, and thankyou" Charlie said with no emotion. Marco went up stairs to sleep in his own room while Charlie slept on the couch. Charlie tried her best to sleep but she couldn't help but think about Alex all night. _Where did she go? Is she alright? Does she completely hate me now?_ So many questions went through her head, it's like they were all screaming at her to be answered. It wasn't until late in the morning she fell asleep. Marco came down at 7:30am to get a head start at cleaning up, forgetting that Charlie was on the couch.

He came down in his pajama pants and a tight t-shirt with some scary looking hair. He was going to get some coffee from the kitchen when he heard a groan come from the couch. He jumped, but then remembered that Charlie was there. He got his coffee and an extra cup for Charlie. She sat up on the couch as Marco came by, he sat down beside her and handed her the cup.

"you sleep okay?" he asked just looking straight across the room.

"no, you?" she asked taking a sip of coffee, not looking at Marco.

"nope." He said also taking a sip of his coffee. Eventually the two of them got up and started cleaning up the house, it was the least Charlie could do for Marco, considering he let her stay the night. Three hours later and 2 garbage bags Marco and Charlie had everything cleaned up and put back the way it was. Now that Charlie's hang over had passed she was ready to go home. But Marco wanted to talk to her.

"so what exactly happened last night between you and Paige, I didn't exactly see." Marco said.

"well, Paige brought me over some punch, I guess I had a little too much of that stuff. But I managed to convinced Alex to dance with me even though I was drunk, and then somehow I ended up dancing with Paige and I don't know… all of a sudden I felt Paige's lips on mine and I couldn't pull away. It was like she had some control over me." She said.

"Charlie, she didn't have control over you, you were just drunk" Marco said chuckling.

"I know, but still I kissed her! I can't believe I did that. I feel like such an idiot."

"wait, did you say Paige gave you the punch?"

"yeah why?"

"well she always knows I add alcohol to my punch. It's like a trade mark." Marco said proudly.

"so wait, she knew that it was spiked?" Charlie asked. Marco just nodded.

"that bitch" Charlie and Marco said at the same time. "Listen I got to go, I've got a score to settle on Monday, thanks for letting me crash here last night."

"no problem, thanks for helping me clean up" Marco said as Charlie walked out the door, he knew that when Monday came around something was going to get broken. Whether it was hearts or noses, he wasn't sure.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: It's a monster!**

The weekend had passed by, Charlie had tried so many times to contact Alex but she just wouldn't answer her phone, and she had no idea where she lived. She spent the whole weekend trying to reconcile with her but she just had to wait till Monday to see her. Alex on the other hand was completely avoiding Charlie and was not looking forward to Monday. She liked Charlie, she really did, she was hot, smart, beautiful, good looking and fun to hand out with too but she couldn't take any more heart break, whether it was from Paige or Charlie.

Monday rolled around at school and everything felt awkward between everyone basically. When Charlie made her daily entrance in the parking lot Alex wasn't there to see her. Marco was standing there waiting for her,

"where is she?" Charlie asked

"I don't know, I haven't seen her yet." Marco replied. "how's your hand?"

"I went to the doctor and it's not broken or anything just badly bruised, so have to wear this glove kind of thing for a few days."

"good to see that your okay."

"yeah"

The two started to walk inside when Charlie noticed Paige talking to her group of friends. Her nose was all purple and red and had a white bandage over her face so that it healed back properly. Charlie couldn't help but smirk when she saw Paige's nose. Paige saw Charlie looking at her and gave her a dirty look, Marco saw what Charlie was looking at and saw the way Paige was looking at Charlie.

Charlie had a plan "Oh my god! It's a monster!" she said grabbing everyone's attention and pointing at Paige. Everyone gave a heavy laugh when they saw she was pointing at Paige. Paige just shot back an even dirtier stare and then tried to cover her face.

"well Charlie Barker, it looks like you have your very first enemy here at Degrassi" he said and walked inside. The two ran around the school looking for Alex but couldn't find her any where; they knew she wasn't type of person to run away from her problems, they just couldn't find her. Charlie's first class was with Paige, and knowing that the two of them now had beef together Charlie decided to sit on the opposite side of the classroom During her first class she knew that Alex's class was next to her and she knew she would be in class. So Charlie thought of a plan, she would write a fake note and deliver it to Alex's class so then they could talk. Charlie pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the note; she asked to go to the bathroom and walked over to Alex's class. She knocked on the door and handed the note to her teacher. Alex noticed that Charlie walked into the class, but didn't think anything of it, until she saw the note.

"Alex, you're wanted in the principal's office" he said and went back to teaching the class. Alex got up and grabbed her bag knowing that the whole thing was just a scheme to talk to Alex. Charlie and Alex walked out of the classroom and to the front steps of Degrassi for some privacy.

"what do you want Charlie?" Alex asked not making eye contact with her. Charlie noticed that Alex called her Charlie instead of Barker, like she usually does. She knew that she was angry.

"Alex, what happened at the party was just one big mistake." Charlie started to say.

"Oh what you tripped and fell all over Paige's lips?" Alex asked pissed. "For god's sake Charlie! She's my ex!"

"I know, I know and I'm really sorry, it's just I was a little drunk. I didn't know that those drinks Paige kept bringing me were alcoholic. And plus, I didn't kiss her, she kissed me." Charlie said trying to defend her self. Alex just couldn't believe what she was hearing so she turned away. Charlie grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"I'm sorry" Charlie whispered to Alex as tears started to roll down her face.

"Charlie, you can't just go kissing other girls. Especially when you just told me you were my girlfriend. It doesn't work like that!"

"it was an accident Alex! Fuck! Have you even seen Paige yet since the party?" Charlie asked still crying.

"no why would I?" Alex asked confused. Until she looked down and noticed a bandage on her hand.

"what happened?" Alex asked

"I got into it with your ex" Charlie said embarrassed.

Alex started to chuckle while grabbing Charlie's hand carefully. "oh my god. What the hell did she do to you?"

Charlie started to laugh a little while still crying a bit. "oh she didn't do this to me, but she did slap me across the face in front of everyone."

Alex seemed so angry. "that little whore! I'm going to kill her" she said as she started to walk into Degrassi with a determined look on her face. She was about to kick Paige's ass when she felt Charlie hand pull her back.

"forget her" Charlie said.

"so wait if she just slapped you, how did you hurt your hand?" Alex asked

"well it kind of went like this, she kissed me and accused me of coming on to her, I said it was her fault, she called me a bitch, then called you a bitch, I called her pathetic, then she slapped me, then I punched her, the end." Charlie said shrugging.

Alex just stood there with her jaw on the floor, she couldn't believe that she was hearing. "she called me a bitch?!" Alex said making a joke as if it was the most important thing.

"Alex!" Charlie yelled out slapping her on the arm a little.

"I'm just kidding, but you seriously punched her?" Alex asked. Charlie just nodded while she smiled. Alex picked up Charlie's hand to see what it was like.

"so what does she look like now?" Alex asked interested. "does she look like this?" she asked making a weird face. "or like this?" she asked as she pushed her nose back with her finger. Charlie couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"actually she looks better than she did before, but now her nose is all purple and she has tape all over her face to make sure it heals properly." Charlie said.

Alex gave out a little giggle trying to picture what she looked like, but Charlie brought her back to reality.

"listen Alex, about what happened, I really am sorry. Can you forgive me?" Charlie asked grabbing Alex's hands in hers and looked into her eyes.

Alex looked back at her. "well since you did defend me, I guess I could give you another chance, but next time you go to one of Marco's parties, no punch!"

Charlie was so happy, all she could do was hug Alex and kiss her. Alex hugged her back and kissed her on the lips. Soon they began making out basically and eventually Alex started kissing down Charlie's neck and then kissed her spot.

Charlie moaned a little but quickly pulled back when she felt Alex kiss her spot.

"fuck I hate when you do that!" Charlie said to Alex

"what do you mean? I thought you liked it. Actually by the moans you give I would say you even love it" Alex said with a smirk.

"shut up. It's not that I don't like it when you kiss me there… it's just I have a spot and you don't" Charlie said kind of whining.

"oh I have a spot, but it'll take you some time to find it" Alex said as she winked.

"come on we better get back to class before my teacher thinks I went missing. I said I was going to the bathroom like 20 minutes ago." Charlie said

"alright, let's go,_ girlfriend_. But uhh next period meet me outside of the bathroom I have an idea."

"alright, I'll see you then. Bye" Charlie said as she kissed her girlfriend goodbye and went back to class.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: just a little fun**

Last period had gone by quickly and now Charlie was waiting outside of the girl's bathroom for Alex to come by. She waited there a few minutes and looked down at her watch, she saw that class started 5 minutes ago and Alex was late. She started to pace back and forth until someone grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the bathroom. They quickly closed the door and Alex push Charlie against it and started kissing her.

"wait, aren't there other people in here?" Charlie whispered to Alex.

"no, don't worry, I already checked" Alex said going back to kissing Charlie.

"do you know how much I like spending time with you?" Charlie asked in between kisses and giggling at how much Alex wanted to kiss her.

"hmm, how much?" Alex asked putting her hands around Charlie's waist and pulling her closer.

"umm this much" Charlie said as she wrapped her arms around Alex's neck and kissing her all over. They made out for a few more minutes, not really caring what noises they made they just wanted to be with each other and live in the moment… that was until they noticed what time it was.

"I've got to go, I think my teachers are starting to think I have some bowel problem with the amount of time I spend in the bathroom" Charlie said breaking away from Alex and making each other laugh.

"alright. I can't wait to kiss you again…" Alex said letting her go. They walked out of the bathroom one after the other but before Charlie could go back to class Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her back in for one last kiss.

"see, I told you I couldn't wait" Alex said holding Charlie close to her. Just then the teacher came down the hallway, but stopped when he saw the two girls in the hallway making out.

"ladies, you know theirs no public displays of affection allowed in the hallways." He said as he walked towards them. He handed each of them a detention slip for one day. Alex was pissed, obviously because she hated detention, but Charlie didn't seem too angry, in fact she looked happy.

"what are you smiling at? We just got detention… again!" Alex said shoving the detention slip in Charlie's face.

"I know, but that means I just get to spend more time with you" Charlie said as she started walking back to class.

"I'll see you after school Barker" Alex yelled down the hallway.

Today, this period Charlie had physics and thankfully Marco was in her class.

"took you long enough, jeez what are you? A horse?" Marco said making a joke.

"sorry, I was talking to a teacher in the hallway." Charlie replied.

"about what?" he asked not all that interested.

Charlie pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and showed it to Marco "this" she said.

"a detention? Did you hit Paige again?" Marco asked concerned.

"no, it's for public displays of affection, in the hallway."

"PDA? With who?" he asked

"with the teacher" She said sarcastically. "who do you think?!"

"…Alex?" Marco asked slightly gasping. Charlie just nodded back biting on her lower lip.

"oh thank god! You two are so cute together" Marco said as he went back to his work.

"you think?" Charlie asked Marco.

"oh totally. Alex is good with most people because on the outside she seems tough but once you get to know her you'll see that she's really sweet inside… and don't tell her I said this, but she's a hopeless romantic" He said and then finally went back to his work.

"aww that's so cute." Charlie said.

As weird as it sounded, Charlie was looking forward to her detention. She knew it meant quality time with her girlfriend with no chance that Paige could interrupt them.

After school Charlie and Alex walked down to detention together and signed in.

"Miss. Barker, you've been here all of one week and a day and you already have your second detention?" Mrs. Thompson said.

"I guess so…" Charlie said as she waited for Alex to sign in.

"looks like you've got some competition Miss. Nunez" she said.

"I guess so…" Alex said copying Charlie. They both went to take a seat at the back of the classroom together. Unfortunately, Alex didn't have anything planned to get them out of detention but they were happy as long as they were together. They knew they couldn't really do anything out in the open because they knew that Mrs. Thompson would be watching them. So all they did was hold hands underneath the table. Every so often Alex would kiss Charlie's hand when the teacher wasn't looking. Charlie knew that everything at this moment was perfect, except she was in detention, but still, it didn't matter. She was with her girlfriend and everything was fine. After detention Charlie invited Alex over to her house. She lived within a few blocks of Degrassi but not close enough to walk. Thankfully Charlie had her trusty Jaguar.

They pulled into Charlie's driveway, and Alex looked at their house. It wasn't the biggest house she's ever seen, but it was up there. It was two stories high and looked like it was made of marble.

"It must be nice to have a rich daddy" Alex said hip checking Charlie.

"yeah, I guess. But sometimes we just move around like crazy. I mean I've lived in like 6 different houses already." Charlie said

"so what? You make some new friends everywhere." Alex said like it was no big deal.

"yeah, but it means when I move I leave all of those friend behind" Charlie said sadly. Alex didn't say anything because she knew Charlie was right.

They went in the house and straight upstairs to Charlie's room, and sat down on the bed. Alex and Charlie started kissing

"so does this count as a second date?" Alex asked kissing Charlie's spot, thinking it would convince her it was.

"nope, sorry you're going to have to do more than make out with for it to be a second date." Charlie said in between kisses.

Alex got up "well then I guess I should go home and plan our next date then"

"are you serious?" Charlie asked wanting more time with Alex.

Alex laughed out loud "no, but really do have to go home, I've got some things to do" she said and picked up her bag.

Charlie got up and stood in front of Alex, "alright… if you have to go, you have to go" Charlie said groaning. They started walking downstairs and kissed goodbye.

"hey wait, do you want a ride home?" Charlie asked before Alex left.

"no that's alright, I'll just walk" Alex said.

"you know I'm going to have to see where you live sometime…" Charlie said.

"not if I can help it"

"Alex, what's with you and your house? I mean it can't be that bad." Charlie said

"listen, I don't want to talk about it!" Alex said slightly raising her voice.

"Alex, you're my girlfriend! I won't care where you live, as long as I can be with you" she said also raising her voice.

"What's with you and my house? It's not a big deal!" Alex said no fully yelling, she didn't really mean to get all angry, it just kind of happened. If there were people around, they would be staring at them.

"I'm just saying that it doesn't matter where you live I will still be your girlfriend"

"Just, stop pushing the subject stay out of my life!" Alex yelled but stopped when she realized what she said to Charlie. "wait, Charlie, I didn't mean that" Alex said turning around to see Charlie standing in her door way.

"you know what? You're right, just forget it, you don't have to worry about me asking about your home ever again, don't even bother with a second date because I am tired of you blocking me out of your life. You just can't stand to let anyone in. Maybe you can talk about it with your next girlfriend, because I've had enough, we're over" Charlie said and slammed her front door shut.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Take me back**

Alex just stood there she wasn't quite sure how to deal with this. Her girlfriend just broke up with her and it was all her fault. She idiotically told her girlfriend to stay out of her life, and it worked, now Charlie didn't even want to be apart of it. She walked down the street to her house. She knew that Charlie was right, and she shouldn't have yelled at her. Alex knew Charlie, and she also knew Charlie wouldn't care where she lived and she knew that she had to get Charlie back some how. She didn't care what it took, she had to get her back.

Charlie was back at her house standing on the other side of the door still leaning against it and reflection on what had just happened, she was feeling as hurt as ever. Her girlfriend had just told her to stay out of her life. She was only trying to help Alex, but sometimes Alex could be just so stubborn, so she had to end it.

The next day at school was awkward. This time it was Charlie's turn to be angry at Alex. Charlie drove to school and parked in her regular spot expecting Alex so to be waiting for her, but she wasn't. She was a little shocked at first, but a little relieved. She didn't want to deal with her, she just wanted to get over it, get over her. Instead of talking to Marco or any of her new friends she met at her welcoming party she just went straight to class. Her first class of the day was French class. She had a pretty cool teacher, she was a great actress and made everyone laugh, but sometimes she could be harsh, but knowing that she was a French teacher meant she made exceptions for love sometimes. 15 minutes into the class there was a knock at the door. Charlie didn't really think anything of it because it was just a knock at the door. The teacher went to open the door.

"yes?" she asked as she saw a student holding a bouquet of flowers.

"I have a delivery for a… Charlie Barker" he said as he read a piece of paper in his hand. Charlie looked up to see the roses. She got up and walked to the door to get them.

"If you could just sign here" he said as he held out a clipboard. Charlie signed the paper and took the roses out of his hands. She pulled out the card and started to read it.

"well read it out loud" the teacher said being nosy. Charlie started to blush a little.

"12 roses, 11 real, 1 fake, I will love you until the last one dies." Charlie read. An 'aww' broke out from the entire class. Charlie started to tear up a little but tried her hardest to hold back the tears. So many things were going through her head at this moment and she just couldn't think straight.

"umm can I go, uh, put these in my locker?" Charlie asked to the teacher. The teacher noticed that she was teary eyed and thought it would be okay if she just took a moment.

"sure" she said and with that Charlie was out the door. While walking to her locker she wiped the tears out of her eyes. The flowers and card were so sweet but that's not why she was crying. It was the fact that Alex had said she loved her. She turned a corner to go to her locked but stopped in her tracks when she saw someone leaning against her locker, it was Alex of course waiting for Charlie. Charlie instantly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. Alex started to chase after her.

"Charlie wait!" Alex said running up beside her.

"just leave me alone" Charlie said as she continued to walk quickly.

"listen Charlie, I'm really sorry I told you to stay out of my life, I didn't mean it."

"I'm getting a deja-vu feeling" Charlie said angrily.

"I know what you mean. But back to our problem. Do you think you could forgive me." Alex asked while grabbing Charlie's hands and forcing her to stop walking and turn around. Charlie looked away and then looked back still with some tears in her eyes.

"Alex, you have no idea how much you hurt me do you?" Charlie asked.

"look I know how you're feeling…" Alex started but was cut off by Charlie.

"no Alex! You can't even start to understand how I'm feeling. The person I loved told me basically to screw off!"

"But…I love you" Alex said trying to convince Charlie

"no, the correct term is _I loved you_" Charlie said as she threw the bouquet of roses into the nearest garbage can and walked away from Alex. Alex was _almost_ crying, as was Charlie but they couldn't see each other. Alex tried to get Charlie back, but it was obvious she didn't want her back. But something had to be done about it. Charlie went back to her French class with only 5 minutes left in class. Everyone including the teacher could see she was angry, but knew it was none of their business so they decided to steer away from it. Charlie didn't exactly feel like going to class next period so when she saw Marco in the hallway he grabbed him from his friends and started pulling him towards the doors.

"come on homo, we're skipping" Charlie said as she led him to her car.

"alright, if you say so" Marco said being dragged against his own will. A few minutes later Charlie and Marco were down at the ice cream shop a few blocks away from Degrassi. After grabbing their ice cream they sat at one of the picnic tables outside of the shop.

"so what's so important that we had to skip class and get ice cream?" Marco asked.

"I broke up with Alex yesterday" Charlie said bluntly.

"what?! Wasn't it just yesterday that you were fighting to get her back?" he asked

"yeah, but then we got into this fight about me seeing where she lives, and then she told me to stay out of her life, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I love her I honestly do but sometimes I just can't stand it anymore." Charlie said

"so has she tried to get you back yet?" Marco asked while sucking on the ice cream filled spoon.

"she sent me roses" Charlie started.

"that's it? She usually does something super romantic…" he said.

"this came with it" Charlie said handing Marco the card that came with the roses. Marco started to read the card and then looked back up at Charlie.

"Now, see, that's the Alex I know" Marco said handing the card back to Charlie.

"you kept the card though?" he asked.

"yeah… don't ask me why" Charlie said.

"I don't have to, even a blind person can see that you're still in love with her"

"that may be, but Alex just isn't ready to be in a relationship with me" Charlie said finishing up her ice cream. "she's going to need to do a lot more than send me some flowers to get me back."

"if I know Alex, she's going to do what ever it takes to get you back. I've never seen her this in love with someone, not since Paige" Marco said realizing what he just said. Charlie just stared at him, when she heard 'Paige'.

"sorry…" he said.

"Marco, were they really that in love?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know, I guess… apparently not as in love as I thought though."

"what do you mean?" she asked.

"well, if Alex really wanted her back, they would be back together."

"why did they break up in the first place?" Charlie asked.

"Alex, was kind of working at this _place_ that Paige didn't _like_" he said trying to keep it on the down low.

"Marco, just tell me" Charlie said in an annoyed tone.

"Alex started working as a stripper and Paige didn't want her girlfriend to work there." Marco said plainly.

"a stripper? Why a stripper? She works at the movie theatre" Charlie said confused.

"she and her mom were kind of tight on money and needed to quick cash"

Charlie wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. All she knew at this point was that she was still angry and Alex. And she wasn't sure if she could ever forgive her. Charlie and Marco finished up their ice cream and decided to head back to school. Charlie was focused on parking the car until Marco said something.

"oh my god…" he said. Charlie looked at Marco who's mouth was open and followed his gaze to see what he was staring at. She looked up at the school to see a banner across the Degrassi sign.

'I love you Charlie' was written on the banner in huge letters. No on else had seen the banner yet considering it was before lunch and during class. Charlie stormed out of her car and walked up to the banner with Marco following. She gave an angry look at Marco and he just shrugged. She looked back at the banner and pulled it down and walked into the school.

"how can you not love her?" Marco said chasing after Charlie.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Take me back, **_**please**_

During last period Charlie tried her hardest to keep her mind off of Alex but it was no use. A knock came from the door, the teacher went to open it. But Charlie thought it was just another ordinary knock at the door, until…

"can I help you?" the teacher asked a delivery boy at the door.

"flowers for a Charlie Barker" he said. Charlie got out of her seat to go to the door.

"again?" Charlie asked signing the clip board.

"yeah, here you go." He said as he handed a bouquet of flowers to Charlie she opened the card. It read 'I'm sorry'. Charlie was about to go back to her seat when another delivery boy handed her another bouquet of flowers.

"2 bouquets?" Charlie asked in shock.

"2? No" he said while laughing, and walking back into the hallway to show her. Charlie looked outside of the class room to see several delivery people delivering what had to have been 10 bouquets of flowers. She grabbed all the cards from each bouquet and opened them up. They all said the same thing 'I'm sorry'.

"someone must have screwed up pretty bad" one delivery guy said.

"you have no idea…" Charlie said looking down at the cards in her hand. "listen, can you deliver these to the office instead, I don't really have enough arms to carry all of the flowers around.

"sure" he said. And with that Charlie closed the classroom door and went back to her seat still reading the cards over.

In Alex's class…

"so I skipped last period with Charlie…" Marco said to Alex.

"what?! Did she say anything? Do I have a chance?" Alex said not stopping for air.

"slow down. She told me what happened about the break up, and the flowers, and of course we saw the banner." Marco said.

"and?" 

"she said she doesn't think you're ready for a relationship with her yet" Marco said.

"but I've pulled out every trick in the book. What am I supposed to do to get her back?" Alex asked worrying.

"I don't know, but its going to take more than a banner and some flowers…"

"I wish you have told me this before…" Alex said.

"why?" he asked.

"I sent her like 10 bouquets of flowers to her classroom this period" Alex said

"awww. You're so cute" Marco said he was expecting some sort of a slap from Alex but she was too depressed, she needed her girlfriend.

After class Alex rushed out of the class room to see Charlie and how she took her present. Alex walked around school until she found Charlie at her locker getting some books. Charlie looked up to see Alex coming towards her. She quickly grabbed her bag and shut her locker.

"Charlie…" Alex said. But before she could continue Charlie handed her the 'I'm sorry' cards and walked away. Alex just stood there holding the cards in her hands.

"_shit"_ Alex whispered to her self and turned around to go home. But when she turned around she instantly saw someone standing in front of her. She jumped back in shock.

"fuck Paige… you scared the shit out of me" Alex said. "now move"

"can we talk?" Paige asked. Alex stopped in the hallway and turned around.

"you… want to talk… to me?" Alex asked

"yeah, I want all of this fighting and hatred to stop" Paige said. "and maybe I can help you with your Charlie situation"

"alright, what do I have to lose?" Alex asked her self out loud. They went to an empty hallway and sat down and leaned against the lockers.

"so first, I just wanted to say that I'm tired with all of our fighting, I just want things to be okay between us." Paige started. "we had a pretty ugly break up, and when we were together it was like we could talk about anything, you were my best friend. And I really miss that."

"Paige, you're the one who broke up with me." Alex said looking at her.

"I know, but when we broke up I didn't think we wouldn't talk anymore"

"Paige, a break up means you don't want to be around the other person anymore" Alex said.

"okay, what ever, can we just be friends again? I'm really trying here"

"alright, friends…" Alex said giving in.

"yay! Now let's talk about you and Charlie. What's going on between you two? I mean it's got to be something special if she won't leave you for me…" Paige said jokingly. Alex just looked back at her. "too early for jokes? Okay"

"that was pretty low what you did though, even for you Paige" Alex said.

"I know, I know, but I was drunk and I got what I deserved" Paige said pointing at her nose, which was starting to heal.

"yeah true" Alex said trying not to laugh.

"so Charlie…" Paige said.

"yeah, well you know how I am about my home life, well it's just that Charlie is so perfect I don't want to ruin our relationship. But she just kept digging and digging and I just kind of exploded." Alex said.

"Ahh, yes your place, it took you a while to show me your home life." Paige said.

"so then what do I do?" Alex asked.

"Alex, you have to open up to her, be honest, if she really loves you as much as you love her she will accept where you live and your family, and everything will be fine."

"I don't know, my family is pretty bad" Alex said.

"Alex, even I can see that she is completely in love with you, even in the midst of this whole 'break up, trying to get back together' thing she is still madly in love with you, you just need to do something for her that will make her trust you again." Paige said putting a hand on Alex's knee. Alex saw but thought nothing of it.

"since when have you been so smart?" Alex said jokingly.

"probably the same time I was punched in the nose" Paige said making Alex laugh.

"thanks Paige" Alex said as she hugged Paige. "you're right, I do miss the times where we just talked" Alex said softly. But she felt like someone else was in the hallway, she turned around to see Charlie standing behind, her she was speechless. Paige still had an arm around Alex's waist.

"Charlie, it's not what it looks like" Alex said prying Paige's arm from her body. Charlie just stared at them and didn't say a word. She turned around and walked out of sight.

"oops" Paige said.

"oh my god Paige! You planned this didn't you?" Alex asked pushing Paige away from her.

"now why would you say such a thing?"

"why would you do that? Are you so insanely in love with Charlie that you're willing to sabotage her love life because if you can't have her no one will?"

"…" Paige didn't say anything, she didn't really know how to answer the question.

"fuck Paige, you have some big issues" Alex said as she walked away from Paige.

Out side Alex was running around to find Charlie and saw her getting in her car.

"Charlie, wait" Alex said running towards the car. But Charlie just started the engine and quickly drove off before Alex could say anything to her.

"can anything go right?" Alex asked her self out loud and walked back into the school. Charlie had a lot on her mind now, her now, ex-girlfriend told her to stay out of her life, but wanted her back, and she also was hugging the girl whom Charlie despises. What else could go wrong for Charlie?


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: let's talk**

Alex needed to see Charlie again she didn't care what it took, she had to be with her at this moment. So Alex walked down to Charlie's house from Degrassi and knocked on the door. Mrs. Barker answered the door.

"Alex…" she said.

"hi Mrs. Barker is Charlie home?" Alex asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry Alex, she's uh… she's doing homework right now" she said. Alex felt disappointment in her gut. She knew Mrs. Barker was lying and she knew that Charlie told her to lie. Charlie was going to extreme measures to avoid Alex, but Alex would go to extreme measures to see Charlie. Alex was about to go home when she decided to go around the side of the house to see if she could somehow get to Charlie room on the second floor. To her luck there was a tree at the side of the house that lead to Charlie window. Funny how that works out like that. Alex started climbing the tree and finally got to Charlie window. She looked inside to see Charlie sitting on her bed staring at her room. She wasn't really doing anything, just thinking. Alex lightly tapped on the window with her slender fingers and waited for Charlie to see her. Charlie jumped in shock of a girl at her window but got up and opened the window to see Alex.

"Alex, what are you doing at my window?" Charlie asked

"doesn't look like homework to me" Alex said. "can I come in, or are you going to keep me outside?"

Charlie didn't say anything she just tried to help Alex into her room without making too much noise. After struggling to get in the room and doing a somersault Alex had finally made her way into Charlie's room and could finally talk to her.

"so what do you want?" Charlie asked the girl standing in her room.

"I want to talk" Alex said.

"there's nothing to talk about" Charlie said.

"Charlie… come on" Alex said.

"no, you come on Alex. What was with you today? You send me all these flowers and then after school I see you with Paige basically hanging off you. For someone who wants to get me back you sure have a weird way of showing it.

"okay first of all, Paige wanted to talk and be friends again, but apparently friends meant 'if I can't have Charlie, no one can'. And second of all, I have been trying everything to get you back but you just ignore it. What do I have to do to get you back?!" Alex yelled.

"you want to get me back Alex?" Charlie yelled back.

"yeah I do" Alex said.

"then let me in Alex. I want to know who you are, what makes you tick, how you grew up, how you live now, I want to know everything about you, but you won't let me in" Charlie said starting to cry, but not even caring.

"I'm trying Charlie, I really am. But it's not that easy. Do you know how long it took me to open up to Paige? I mean Marco doesn't even know what my place looks like! Charlie I love you so much, but I don't know if I'm ready for everything you want. These things take time. And if you won't give me the time, I can't share anything with you." Alex said.

"Alex, I've given you time…" Charlie said, now fully crying.

"Charlie, I love you so much. I didn't think I would love anyone as much as I loved Paige, but it's scary how crazy I am about you. I just can't get you out of my mind. Please, just give me a chance to let you in."

"I really don't know Alex…" Charlie said trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes.

"can we at least talk about it more. We can go for a walk, nothing big, just a simple innocent walk. Okay?" Alex said.

"Alright… I guess" Charlie said. Within minutes they were out the door and walking down the street.

"So what was with all the flowers and the banner today?" Charlie asked putting her hands in her pockets.

"I was hoping that I could win you over but I guess it'll take more than some flowers and a banner. But have you ever seen anyone more romantic than me?"

Charlie gave out a little laugh "I have to say that I have never seen someone try so hard to win someone back. Marco was right"

"yeah… wait, what do you mean Marco was right?" Alex asked starting to catch on.

"a while ago he said that on the inside you were a hopeless romantic"

"I'm going to kill him" Alex said making Charlie laugh.

"so where are we going?" Charlie asked looking around to see where they were.

"This is as far as we're going" Alex said stopping.

"what do you mean? Where are we?" Charlie asked.

"Listen I know you want me to let you in, and like I said 'it will take some time' but right now we're going step by step. That over there, is where I live" Alex said pointing to an apartment building. It looked a little rundown and it definitely wasn't as nice as Charlie house, but it is what it is.

"so this is where you live, huh?" Charlie asked looking at the building.

"yeah, I know it's not much, but it's home." Alex said.

"well are we going to go in?" Charlie asked looking at Alex.

"uh, no. I'm not quite ready for that yet. Like I said, step by step" Alex said. Charlie looked over at Alex and saw the expression on her face. Alex really wanted to take her time on letting Charlie in, but as long as they were making progress she didn't care.

"Maybe on our next date I might actually see what the inside looks like…" Charlie said as she started to walk backwards in the direction of her home.

"next date?" Alex asked turning around to look at Charlie.

"yeah…" Charlie said softly.

"so we're…" Alex started.

"back together? I'm giving you one more chance, don't screw it up" Charlie said as she stopped walking backwards to fully see the expression on Alex's face. Alex started walking towards her, she stopped inches away from her face.

"thank you" she whispered and kissed her girlfriend. "Tomorrow, 5:30, meet me at the dot" Alex said. They both turned around and walked home. Things were getting back to the way they were and both of them couldn't be happier.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Overthrown**

The school day had ended and Charlie was going to go home and get ready for her date, but she realized something. She was still on the cheerleading squad, or at least she thinks so. She wasn't sure that this point because right now she hated Paige, and Paige hated her, but she really liked the cheerleading squad. They were cool, and they liked Charlie too. But what would Paige think?

After school Charlie walked into the gym passing by a few other cheerleaders. They were all nice and waved or said 'hi' as she walked by them. But she wasn't looking to say hi to them, she needed to talk to Paige.

"Paige, we need to talk" Charlie said walking up to her, her back was turned because she was talking to Manny.

"um, no we don't." Paige said turning around revealing her still broken nose.

"uh yeah we do, if I'm going to be on this squad with you we need to learn how to keep it cool during practices." Charlie said trying to stay calm

"no need." Paige said

"why?"

"because you're off the squad" Paige said clutching her nose from pain.

"what?! You can't kick me off the squad!" Charlie yelled loud enough everyone in the gym heard.

"umm, I can and I will. I am the captain of the Cheerleading squad, I have to right to kick anybody off." Paige said putting her hands on her hips. The other girls started to gather around in a circle.

"you can't kick Charlie off, we need her, she's like the best one on the team." Manny said. Charlie just smiled at Manny, she was a good friend.

"yes hun, I can" Paige said.

"not if everyone else on the squad disagrees with you" another girl said.

"that's right" Manny said stepping forward. "we'll have a vote. All of those who want Charlie on the squad raise your hand"

Everyone on the squad raised their hand except for Paige, who just looked pissed as hell!

"you want this whore on the team?" Paige asked in a nasty way. Everyone was angry at Paige for just saying that, especially Charlie.

So Charlie decided to get her revenge "All those who want Paige off the squad for being a bitch, raise your hand" and with that everyone on the squad raised their hands, some people even raised both of their hands.

"well it looks like that's settled" Charlie said staring at Paige. Paige looked like she was about to explode, it was actually quite funny; she didn't realize how many people on the team really hated her. Apparently they were just too scared to do anything about it. Paige just stormed off and out of the gym, they all kind of laughed.

"okay that just leaves one last vote to be decided" Manny said

"what's that?" a random girl asked.

"all those in favor of making Charlie our new captain, raise your hand" and with that everyone instantly raised their hands. Charlie looked around in amazement.

"are you serious?!" Charlie asked still in shock.

"yeah I mean, we all knew you were better than Paige, it's just that she had been here longer and it's just the way it was. But sometimes things change" Manny said.

"awww. You guys are so sweet!" Charlie said as everyone moved in together to have a group hug.

"and as a treat, we can skip practice today, plus I've got a date." Charlie said. Everyone broke out in a little cheer.

"but be back here tomorrow and we'll start fresh." Everyone left the gym and Charlie went home to get ready for her date. She had no idea where they were going because she knew that she was only meeting Alex at the Dot. So Charlie showered, put on her makeup and just wore a casual skirt, nothing too fancy.

It was 5:30 now and Charlie was waiting at the Dot for Alex to arrive. Alex walked in and the bell from the door went off. Charlie looked up to see who it was and her face lit up, it's just something that Alex did to her, she couldn't put her finger on it, but when ever she saw Alex she instantly felt happy.

"hey Alex" Charlie said as she got up and kissed Alex on the cheek.

"hey" Alex said back.

"so where to?" Charlie asked as they both got into Charlie's jag.

"we're going to the drive in." Alex said.

"drive in? You never showed me a drive in when you took me on the tour" Charlie said starting up the car.

"yeah, well it's a special drive in." Alex said as she smiled. She gave directions to Charlie and in 10 minutes they were there.

Charlie and Alex pulled into an empty park behind an abandoned barn "um, I don't know if you've ever been to a drive in before but usually it's got a big screen somewhere and then we sit in the car and watch a movie"

"Thanks for pointing that out." She said sarcastically. "Just wait" Alex said. Soon enough a projector came on to the back of the barn and a movie started playing. It was Chicago. Charlie gasped and was practically speechless.

"you remembered? Aww. That's so sweet of you" Charlie said as she leaned over to kiss Alex on the cheek.

"and that's not the only thing…" Alex started as she pulled out a bag of candy from her pocket.

"fuzzy peaches!" Charlie yelled as she practically jumped for them. Alex quickly pulled them out of her reach leaving a disappointed look on Charlie's face.

"uh uh" Alex said as if Charlie wasn't going to get any. Alex just tapped on her cheek signaling Charlie to kiss her if she wanted her candy.

"ugh, curse you and those fuzzy peaches" Charlie said as she leant in for a kiss. But Alex quickly turned her head and made Charlie kiss her on the lips.

"cheater" Alex said as she snatched the candy from Alex's hand and quickly ripped open the bag.

Charlie tried to lean into Alex so that Alex could put her arm around her. Unfortunately the shift stick was in between them and if they sat in the back seat they wouldn't be able to see the movie. After fidgeting for a few minutes Alex started to laugh. They were trying so hard to be so comfortable in each other's arms that they were just completely the furthest thing away from comfortable.

"stop laughing, I'm trying to get close to you" Charlie said jokingly.

"I know, I know, here try this" Alex said as she pulled Charlie's arm so that Charlie was sitting on top of her.

Alex put her arms around Charlie once she settled in "better?" she asked

"much" Charlie replied as she leaned her head on to Alex's and continued watching the movie. "oh yeah I forgot to tell you something…" Charlie said as she fed Alex a fuzzy peach

"what's that?" Alex said still looking at the movie and talking with her mouth full

"well you know how Paige and I had our little throw down…" Charlie began

"yeah…"

"well I went to cheerleading practice after school and talked to Paige. And she was all like 'your off the squad'" Charlie said in a blonde, ditzy kind of way. "and I was all like 'yo you can't do that'" she said in a tough, Rocky Balboa kind of a way.

"ooh this is better than the movie" Alex joked. "what happened next? Did you hit her again?"

"no" Charlie said. "see Manny stepped in and she said that if everyone else unanimously voted that I could come back and of course everyone voted be back on, and then we had a vote to kick _Paige Michalbitch_ off the squad and of course everyone secretly hated her, so she was gone." 

"that's amazing!" Alex said in sincerity.

"and that's not even the best part…"

"oh what? Did Paige walk into a wall or something?" Alex asked.

"ha no, better, the team voted me their new captain" Charlie said excitedly.

"aww congratulations!" Alex said giving her girlfriend a kiss on the lips. "it's like déjà vu"

"what do you mean?" Charlie asked confused.

"I am once again, dating the head cheerleader at school." Alex said proudly.

"looks like your reputation precedes you, Miss. Nunez" Charlie said kissing her back on the lips.

The movie went by pretty quickly and before they knew it the credits were rolling.

"well, I have to say, it wasn't half bad" Alex said softly into Charlie's ear. "but the sound of music is better"

"well I'm glad you liked it" Charlie said trying to get off of Alex and go back to her seat. But she couldn't, Alex was holding her back.

"where do you think you're going?" Alex said smirking right before she pulled Charlie into a kiss.

"I see we're taking advantage of the second date opportunities" Alex said breaking the kiss for a few seconds.

"hell yeah" Alex said. Alex's hands started making their way to Charlie's back. Her hands started to go up the back of the shirt slowly. Soon Charlie pulled away and sat in the driver's seat. He motioned for Alex to come towards her with her finger. Alex jumped at the opportunity and hopped on top of Charlie, kissing her. This time Charlie's hands went to Alex's back and started going up her shirt. Within minutes Charlie pulled Alex's shirt off and started kissing down her body. Alex was about to take off Charlie's shirt but she was too busy being kissed all over by her. Charlie started kissing between Alex's breasts, while cupping them making her breathing heavier and heavier, she was about to go lower until Alex backed up and hit the car horn. Alex jumped up and hit her head in reaction to the horn

"fuck!" Alex said touching her head. Charlie just laughed out loud.

"oh you think this is funny?" Alex asked while going back to her seat. She put her shirt back on and looked at Charlie.

"I'm guessing that's as far as I'm going to get tonight isn't it?" Alex asked. Charlie just nodded like she was sorry.

"alright, well that's not the only reason I brought you out tonight." Alex said with a neutral face.

"what do you mean?" Charlie said starting up the car and pulling out of the park.

"you my unlucky girlfriend, are going to take me home" she said

"_home_, home? Like the place where you eat, sleep and live?" Charlie asked double checking.

"yes, _there_" Alex said rolling her eyes. "it's at Degrassi and 24th if you don't remember"

"okay, Alex I want you to know, I don't care where you live, as long as you are still my girlfriend." Charlie said as she put her hand on Alex's knee.

"I know, but I want to get this over with. Now, as you know I don't live in any fancy house, actually I live with my mom and her boyfriend."

"so? that's not bad" Charlie said comforting her.

"yeah it's not bad, until they start yelling at 4:00 in the morning. That's when things get bad." Said Alex showing no signs of sadness.

"okay, I need to say this now, before I take you home… if you ever need somewhere to go you can always come to my place. Anytime, day or night, even if we are or aren't dating, your safety is important to me." Charlie said as she pulled into the parking lot of the complex.

"I really appreciate that Charlie. Okay so well this is it." Alex said looking out the window.

"do you want me to walk you to the door?" Charlie asked Alex reaching for her seatbelt.

"um, yeah..." Alex said opening the door and got out of the car, Charlie just followed. They made their way up to flights of stairs only passing 2 rats along the way until they made it to Alex's door.

"this is as far as we go tonight, babe" Alex said looking at Charlie.

"alright, I'll see you tomorrow, Nunez" Charlie said giving Alex a quick kiss on the lips.

"bye Barker" Alex said as she kissed Charlie back.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: in or out**

It had been a couple of weeks since Charlie had arrived at Degrassi, and in Alex's opinion she was the best thing to happen to Degrassi. She was head cheerleader, one of the most popular girls in school and she was dating Alex. Alex and Charlie were one of the cutest couples at school and no one had a problem with it, until Charlie and Alex started getting closer. They had gone out on a few dates and each date it seemed like they were getting further and further into their relationship, if you know what I mean.

Every date Charlie and Alex would try to go somewhere different like the movies or a club but at the end of each date they would go back to that same spot from their first date and sit under the stars and 'get close'. But they still hadn't gone all the way. Charlie wanted to wait until she was comfortable and Alex was completely okay with that. It was their seventh date now and like usual they ended up under the stars on the hood of Charlie's car. They were kissing and touching and Alex was about to lift up Charlie's shirt until she stopped her.

"what's wrong?" Alex asked.

"you know I love you, I do, it's just that I want our first time to be special. I mean Alex you're not even out to your mom yet. How can we have sex if you're not out?" Charlie asked. Alex felt a little crushed, and it wasn't just because she was denied sex but it was because Charlie reminded Alex that she has never told her mom that she was a lesbian.

Alex just pulled away from Charlie "can you take me home?" she asked. Soon Charlie and Alex were on their way home and hadn't said more than two words to each other. The next few days everything kind of went back to normal and the topic was never brought up again, until one night when Alex showed up at Charlie's house. It was 2:00 in the morning and Alex knocked on Charlie's door. A few minutes later Charlie opened the door yawning, she was wearing a small tank top and comfortable short-shorts. It was amazing, even in the middle of the night she looked hot, but that wasn't the point. Once Charlie fully opened her eyes she saw Alex standing there trying her best not to cry, she had a black eye.

"oh my god! What happened?" Charlie asked quickly pulling Alex into her house and shutting the door behind her.

"I told my mom" Alex said quietly. Charlie and Alex sat down on Charlie's couch and were facing each other. Charlie got up to get an ice pack from her freezer. She lightly pressed the ice pack to Alex's face. Alex gasped when she felt the cold on her eye.

"what do you mean you told your mom?" Charlie asked.

"I told her I was gay" Alex said taking the ice pack from Charlie's hand.

"and she hit you?" Charlie asked shocked

"I told you, you wouldn't want to come to my place" Alex said embarrassed.

"oh my god, I'm so sorry Alex. I didn't want any of this to happen." Charlie said. "wait you didn't tell her just so you could have sex with me did you?"

Alex just laughed quietly "no. I did it because I wanted to"

"well I'm proud of you, babe" Charlie said as she kissed Alex on the forehead. "now come on, you can come sleep in my bed tonight" and with that the two girls went upstairs to go to sleep.

The next day Charlie and Alex woke up at 7:00am to the sound of Charlie's alarm clock. Alex let out a loud groan and Charlie just reached out from under the covers to hit the alarm clock. Alex had one arm around Charlie and Charlie had just snuggled up close to her girlfriend. She slowly got out of bed to go brush her teeth.

"come on babe, wake up" Charlie said nudging Alex, who was still in bed underneath Charlie's quilt.

"what time is it?" Alex asked in a groggy morning voice.

"7:04" Charlie said with a toothbrush in her mouth.

"in the morning?!" Alex asked as she rolled over on her stomach to try and go back to sleep.

"yes, now get up, school's in like an hour" Charlie said slapping Alex on the ass and pulling the covers off of her. Alex sat up in the bed a little cold, Charlie just threw a towel at Alex.

"here, go take a shower and then you can raid my closet and pick out what ever you want, okay?" Charlie asked.

"alright" Alex said as she got up and walked into Charlie's bathroom which was connected to her room. 15 minutes later Alex stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her body and her hair dripping wet.

"Okay, closet's over there, and now I'm going to take my shower, I'll expect you to be changed by the time I get out." Charlie said as she walked into the bathroom. Alex not being as stylish as Charlie just picked out a pair of plain black pants and a Degrassi sweatshirt. She laid them out on the bed and took off her towel. She was about to put on her pants when someone quickly opened the door.

"Charlie, what do you want for break-" Mrs. Barker said before she quickly stopped talking when she saw a naked Alex.

"oh my god!" Mrs. Barker and Alex said at the same time

She shut the door just as fast as she had opened it realizing that it wasn't Charlie in the room. Alex quickly put on the pants and sweatshirt and opened the door to see Mrs. Barker still standing there in shock.

"hi, Mrs. Barker? I'm Alex" Alex said introducing herself

"oh Alex. Sorry about walking in on you like that" she said.

"it's alright" Alex said embarrassed.

"so what are you doing here so early in the morning? And what happened to your eye?" she asked.

"oh um, I kind of stayed the night, it was kind of an emergency" Alex said pointing to her eye. "I hope that's alright…" she said

"Of course, you're always welcome here. Charlie talks about you all the time, just next time please let us know."

"yeah, sure, of course" Alex said.

"okay, well once you two are ready come down stairs and have some breakfast" Mrs. Barker said as she walked away.

"alright, thank you" Alex yelled out so that she could hear it. Alex walked back into Charlie's room and just sat on the bed still in a little shock. Charlie walked out a couple of minutes later in a towel and started to get dressed.

"hey, are you okay?" Charlie asked. Alex just nodded.

"what happened?" Charlie asked getting her clothes on.

"your mom… kind of came in… while I was… getting dressed" Alex said slowly. Charlie just kind of froze while she was putting on a shirt.

"did she… see you?" Charlie asked

"oh yeah"

"all of you?" she asked

"oh yeah" Alex just repeated.

"great, now my mom's seen more of you than I have" Charlie said making a joke.

"it's not funny!" Alex said pushing Charlie.

"yeah, it is!" Charlie said chuckling and getting out a curling iron and started curling her hair. Within minutes her hair was perfect and she started putting on make up. Soon enough Alex had seen the whole process in which Charlie gets ready in the morning, and it doesn't seem like much but it make a drastic difference.

"you ready to go to school?" Charlie asked the mirror, but looking at Alex

"does it look like I'm ready?" Alex said getting up and putting her head next to Charlie's.

"come here" Charlie said as she allowed Alex to take her seat in front of the vanity. Charlie pulled out a small container that had concealer in it and started apply to Alex's eye without actually hurting her. After a few minutes and some makeup Alex's black eye was no where to be seen. Alex looked at her eye and saw that Charlie did a good job.

"not bad, Barker" Alex said

"alright, come on let's grab some food to go and get out of here, we're already running late" Charlie said as she grabbed her bag and walked down the stairs with Alex behind her.

"hi mom, can we get some food for take out, we're in a bit of a rush" Charlie said.

"okay sure" Mrs. Barker said as she gathered some food and put it in a couple of napkins

"thanks mom" Charlie said taking the food from her hands.

"thank you" Alex said also taking some food. Charlie and Alex walked out the door and to Charlie's car.

"so where's your dad?" Alex asked

"some business meeting in Vancouver" Charlie said opening the car door. Alex didn't say anything; she didn't know what to say. Charlie and Alex started driving to school and were just down the street.

"wait!" Alex shouted. Charlie stepped on the brake quickly.

"what?!" Charlie yelled back.

"I don't have my books" Alex said calmly looking at Charlie. She knew she made Charlie slam on her brakes for nothing.

"where are they?" Charlie said in an annoyed tone

"at my place" Alex said

"do you want to go back and get them?" Charlie asked.

"do we have time?" Alex asked

"Nunez, we're in a jaguar, what do you think?" Charlie said smiling and making a U-turn in the car. Charlie and Alex pulled into the parking lot of Alex's apartment.

"okay hurry up" Charlie said looking at Alex. Alex just sat there.

"Alex?" Charlie asked

"mmm?"

"are you going to get your bag?" she asked

"yeah…" Alex said staring out the window.

"well you might want to move those little feet of yours" Charlie said jokingly. Alex just glanced at Charlie and then looked down at her knees. "Alex, are you okay?" Charlie asked in a serious tone.

"yeah, it's just I don't know if my mom's home or not" Alex said.

"come on." Charlie said taking off her seat belt and opening the door.

"where are you going?" Alex asked looking out Charlie's window.

"uh, _we're_ going to go get your bag, now hurry up" Charlie said as she started walking towards the building. Alex couldn't let Charlie go in there by herself so she had to go with her. Alex and Charlie made their way up the stairs and to Alex's apartment.

"are you going to go in?" Charlie asked seeing Alex stand in front of the door. She was scared to go in and see her mother, she told her last night that she was gay and hasn't looked back since.

_Flashback_

"mom I'm home" Alex yelled out in her apartment so that her mom could hear her wherever she was. "mom?" she asked. Alex walked into her mother's room to see her sitting on her bed holding a bottle of rum. Alex went to take the bottle from her mother.

"I think you've had enough to drink tonight" Alex said walking out of the room.

"where have you been?" Alex's mom asked.

"what?" Alex asked back

"everyday this week you don't come home until like 11:00pm. Where have you been?"

"I've just been out with some friends" Alex said. "where's Chad?"

"I don't know, he's gone out… somewhere" she said "what friends?"

"Just Marco and, uh, Ellie" Alex said.

"Alex, you don't have to lie" she said. _Oh no_ Alex thought, _she caught on, just play it cool, act like you don't know what she's talking about_.

"what do you mean, mom?" Alex asked.

"you're dating some boy. You don't have to be embarrassed honey" Mrs. Nunez said slurring her words.

Alex let out a sigh of relief "no mom, I'm not dating some _boy_." Alex said, which was true, she was dating a _girl._

"Alex, please, I hear you talking on your phone to him all the time" she said.

"mom! I'm not dating some boy!" Alex said starting to get a little angry.

"oh yeah? Then who's Charlie?" she asked. Alex froze, her mom thought she was dating a boy named Charlie, it was actually kind of funny.

"mom, Charlie's just a friend of mine"

"Alex! I don't like you lying to me!" she said getting angry.

"mom will you just drop it?!" Alex asked now yelling also.

"no! why won't you just tell me that you're dating this boy?!"

"cause I'm not dating a boy named Charlie! I'm dating a girl named Charlie!" Alex blurted out. Her mom just stood there in shock. Alex wanted to tell her mom in a more calm way, but it just kind of came out like that.

"you… you're dating a girl?" Mrs. Nunez asked stuttering. Alex sat down on the couch and pulled her mom with her.

"yeah mom. I'm dating a girl. I'm… gay…" Alex said quietly and slowly. Her mom just sat there in shock, she never thought that a daughter of hers would be gay. Alex's mom just got up not breaking eye contact from Alex, but obviously very angry.

"mom?" Alex said but before she could say anything else her mom slapped her across the face and walked out of the room. It was then that Alex walked out of the apartment and over to Charlie's house.

_End of flashback_

"Alex? Are you going to go in?" Charlie asked again bringing Alex back to reality.

"yeah…" Alex said as she slowly opened the door hoping that her mom or Chad wouldn't hear her. She opened the door and saw her bag by the couch in the living room, she walked and left Charlie standing in the doorway. Charlie was looking around the apartment, she saw it was very small, very messy and covered in beer bottles. Alex quickly ran to get her bag but accidentally knocked an empty beer bottle of the coffee table. She tried catching it before it hit the floor, but no luck, it hit other beer bottles and made a loud crash.

"Chad?" Mrs. Nunez yelled out as she walked into the living room. "oh, it's you…" Mrs. Nunez said, you could hear the disappointment in her voice.

"I was just…" Alex started but was interrupted by her mother.

"who are you?" she asked directing the question to the girl standing in the doorway.

"oh, I'm Charlie Barker." Charlie said.

"so you're Charlie huh? You're _dating_ my daughter?" Mrs. Nunez asked in slight disgust.

"yes, I am" she replied. Alex didn't want anything to happen so she quickly grabbed her bag.

"we've got to go, we're late for school" Alex said walking towards Charlie and grabbing her hand.

"it was nice meeting you Charlie" Mrs. Nunez said with no emotion.

"you too!" Charlie yelled out as she was being dragged to her own car.

A few minutes later Charlie and Alex arrived at school, they had already missed most of period one, due to Alex taking her time with her bag. They would have to wait another 15 minutes before period two started and there was no point in going to period one now, so they decided to wait it out on the steps of Degrassi.

"so, she didn't seem too bad" Charlie said trying to look on the bad side.

"she was probably drunk" Alex said.

"Alex, come on, she said 'nice to meet you', that's a good sign"

"I suppose, I don't know, it's all kind of confusing." Alex said.

"hey listen, why don't you come over today after cheerleading practice and we'll watch a few movies, my mom's going to go visit my dad in Vancouver for a few days." Charlie said.

"yeah, alright that sounds good." Alex said before the bell rang.

"okay great, I'll see you later then" Charlie said kissing Alex on the cheek and running off to class.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Dim sum and then some**

Cheerleading practice had finished and Charlie was at home just stepping out of the shower when she heard the doorbell ring. Since she was still in a towel Charlie decided to pop her head out her bedroom window which over looked her front yard.

"hey Nunez!" she yelled out. Alex stepped back from the door way to see who was calling her name out. She looked around but didn't see anyone.

"up here, beautiful" Charlie said smiling.

"oh hey, there you are." Alex said also smiling.

"I'm just getting changed but the door's open so come in"

"alright" Alex said walking into the house. She went to sit down on the couch and saw a few movies sitting on Charlie's table, she picked them up to see what they were. The Italian Job, John Tucker Must Die, and the Devil Wears Prada. After putting the movies back down on the table Charlie came down the stairs.

"hey babe" Charlie said. Alex turned around to see Charlie in a baggy t-shirt and tight jeans.

"hey" Alex said as she half got up to give her girlfriend a kiss.

"so what do you want to watch first?" Charlie asked.

"hmm, how about the Devil Wears Prada, it seems I have a weakness for girls with style" Alex said smiling. Charlie gave out a little laugh back. She put in the movie and sat back down leaning with her back on Alex's chest. Half an hour into the movie the doorbell rings.

"who's that?" Alex asked.

"oh that must be the Chinese food I ordered before you came." Charlie said getting up to get her wallet and answer the door.

"ooh, Chinese" Alex said getting up from the couch. Within a few minutes Alex and Charlie were eating Dim Sum on the couch. Since Alex's arms were holding Charlie, and Charlie's arms were holding the food Charlie would feed her sometimes. But every so often she would 'miss' Alex's mouth and drop the food onto Alex's shirt.

"look's like someone has a hole in their mouth" Charlie said jokingly.

"or… someone has bad aim" Alex said trying to wipe the stain off her shirt with a napkin. Charlie turned around to see she was doing.

"here, why don't we just do this?" Charlie asked taking off Alex's shirt revealing a black bra. Alex caught on to what she was doing and played along.

"see now that's not fair now, I have a shirt and you don't" Alex said looking at Charlie's shirt.

"well, I guess we should even things out" Charlie said playfully and pulled off her own shirt revealing a black and pink lace bra.

"aww much better" Alex said going back to the way she was sitting originally with Charlie in her arms. Charlie sat down with her back to Alex's chest and continued watching the movie. Alex knew the game wouldn't stop there so she continued.

"hey do you think the girls in the movie actually wear matching bras and panties all the time?" Alex asked with a smile.

"well I do" Charlie said smirking.

"oh really now. See I just don't believe you." She said in a joking manner

"well I'm going to have to prove it to you won't I?" Charlie asked smirking because she and Alex both knew where this conversation was going.

"I guess so" Alex replied. Charlie got up and undid the button of her jeans and slowly pulled down the zipper, then she slowly pulled down her tight jeans revealing matching black and pink lace panties to match her bra.

"ahh, so you were telling the truth" Alex said.

"I would never lie to you. But we have a problem, here we are once again, uneven" Charlie said. "I guess your pants are going to have to come off"

"on the contrary, my dear Charlie. These are_ your_ pants" Alex said smiling.

"mine, yours, what ever, just lose them, hot stuff" Charlie said. Alex laughed out loud at how eager Charlie was.

"okay then…" Alex said taking off her pants just as slowly as Charlie did. Once Alex took off her pants she revealed also matching panties to her bra, everything was classic black, which was just as sexy.

"you're matching too huh?" Charlie asked

"I guess so" Alex said sitting down on the couch. Charlie started to sit down but this time she sat in Alex's lap. They started kissing each other like crazy. Alex knew that today was going to be the day that she finally had sex with Charlie. She was so excited about it too, so excited she decided to get Charlie all riled up by kissing her spot. She made her way down Charlie's neck and then kissed her collar bone.

"oohh" Charlie let out as Alex kissed her spot.

"you like that?" Alex asked.

"yeah, I do, and now today, I'll finally be able to find your spot" Charlie said slyly. Soon Alex laid Charlie on her back and crawled on top of her. She started with kissing her mouth then making her way down to her neck and then down to her chest. Charlie's breathing got very heavy as Alex got lower. Alex started to kiss in between Charlie's breasts making her all excited. Alex went back to kissing Charlie on the lips and pulled her up so she could reach her back. She tried to unhook Charlie's bra but was having a few issues. And she accidentally pulled the bra and let go letting it hit Charlie in the back.

"um, ow!" Charlie said sitting up. Alex was trying to contain her laughter. "did you just snap my bra?"

"no, swear I didn't mean to" Alex said with a stifling laugh. Charlie started to smile, she always found Alex's laughing contagious. So she put her hand around Alex's back and snapped her bra.

"ow" Alex said still smiling even though it hurt.

"it was only fair" Charlie said as she went back to kissing Alex. Alex didn't even care at this point, she just wanted to kiss Charlie.

After a few minutes and a few 'oh my gods' and 'yeah, right theres' filled the room. Charlie made her way down to Alex's belly button which she licked circles around and then started kissing lower and lower until she got to Alex's pelvic bone, she kissed it and Alex shuddered and let out a low moan.

"oh well it looks like I found your spot Nunez" Charlie said as she continued to kiss around that area. Alex couldn't help but let out soft moans. After their hot and heavy time together Alex was laying down on top of Charlie and they were both sweaty and completely out of breath. After their breathing went back to normal they both just laid beside each other on the couch.

"I love you baby" Charlie said kissing Alex's neck.

"I guess all of those girlfriends payed off for you, huh?" Alex said jokingly. Charlie just lightly slapped Alex. "Alright, I love you too" Alex said kissing Charlie's forehead.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: holding out**

After Alex and Charlie finally slept together they were getting to that part in their relationship where everything the other person did turned them on. And they meant everything.

"hey you" Charlie said as she walked up beside Alex in the hallway, she quickly intertwined their fingers.

"hey babe" Alex said as she gave a Charlie a quick peck on the cheek.

"so any special plans for next week?" Charlie asked subtly

"no… why?" Alex asked slightly grinning. She knew that next week would be their one month anniversary, and she knew it meant a lot to Charlie.

"oh no reason…" Charlie said slightly disappointed.

"don't worry, I haven't forgotten that next week is our one month anniversary." Alex said while turning to Charlie and gripping her hand in hers.

Charlie let out a sigh of relief "okay good, so what did you want to do?"

"umm, well…." Alex started but then pulled Charlie into the nearest girls bathroom, shut the door and kissed her, hard on the lips.

"mmm" Charlie said seductively. Alex kept kissing Charlie all around as her hand started slightly moving around to Charlie's back and up her shirt. Charlie grabbed Alex's hand and put it back on her hips. But this time Alex moved her hands down to Alex's ass. But Charlie just grabbed Alex's hands and put it at Alex's sides.

"you know I was thinking, as much as I love how hot our relationship maybe we should do something special for our anniversary…" Charlie said as she allowed Alex to continue kissing her neck.

"special huh?" Alex asked in between kisses.

"yeah like maybe… holding off on sex for a week?" Charlie asked hesitantly.

"sorry… what?!" Alex said slightly yelling.

"well you know we're going to end up sleeping together on our anniversary so it might as well be special… So I was thinking if we held off until then it would make it all that more special"

Alex gave a light laugh "umm, see now that we've done it, means we can do it whenever we want…" Alex said trying to convince her crazy girlfriend.

"please Alex… for me?" Charlie asked as she gave her sad face.

Alex paused for a moment and looked into the sad, depressing eyes of her girlfriend. "shit…" Alex whispered. "alright, fine, but this better be some pretty damn good sex next week"

Charlie laughed "alright, 7 days and then I'm all yours" And with that Charlie walked out of the girls bathroom to her next class.

"what the hell have I gotten myself into?" Alex said to herself and walked out the door.

After school that day Alex went to visit Charlie at her house. Cheerleading practice had been cancelled due to too many girls couldn't make it today. Alex and Charlie were home alone, like usual, and were upstairs in Charlie's room. Alex was on Charlie's bed and Charlie was on the floor beside her.

"what did you get for question 5c?" Charlie asked not looking up from her book.

Alex let out a heavy sigh and fell back onto Charlie's bed. "I hate math." Charlie crawled up onto the bed beside her and lay in her arms.

"everyone does" she said snuggling closer to her. Charlie let out a yawn and a big stretch. Her shirt lifted up a little to reveal her tight stomach and belly button. Alex caught a glimpse and quickly sat up.

"what's wrong?" Charlie asked.

"I can't do this no sex thing if you're always like that" Alex said partly joking.

"do what? This?" Charlie asked as she raised her hands over her head and lifted her shirt up again.

"yes that" Alex said grinning at her girlfriend.

"well, you know maybe we could make one exception for the week" Charlie said in a seductive tone.

"really?" Alex asked all excited.

"nope, I changed my mind" Charlie said as she skipped out of the room and downstairs.

"you tease" Alex yelled to her girlfriend.

"I know, but that's why you love me" Charlie said from down the hallway.

"two can play this game" Alex muttered to herself.

The following Saturday Alex came over to Charlie's house just to spend a little quality time with her girlfriend. She ringed the door bell and waited anxiously for her girlfriend to come and greet her.

Charlie opened the door to see Alex, but no ordinary Alex. "hey you up for a little swim?" Alex asked smirking. She knew as soon as she saw Charlie's expression she had her in the palm of her hands. See Alex had planned this, on this very hot Saturday Alex had walked over to Charlie's house wearing nothing but short shorts and a bikini top, all with a towel over her shoulder. Not to mention she also had on a pair of her signature 'bag girl' sunglasses. Charlie looked at Alex from head to toe, her shorts showed off her amazingly long, perfectly tanned legs. And her bikini top was filled out just right, thank god for puberty, and showed her also perfectly tanned stomach and upper body.

"a…a… a swim?" Charlie asked not taking her eyes off of Alex's body.

Alex took a step inside Charlie's house and watched as Charlie drooled over her body. Alex had an excellent physique just didn't feel the need to show it off to everyone.

"yeah, a swim, usually requires bathing suits and a lot of water" Alex said making a joke. Charlie finally snapped out of it when she realized what Alex was trying to do to her, but it wasn't going to work.

"umm, I'm not really in the mood for a swim, but seeing as it's so hot outside, do you want to help me wash the car?" Charlie asked pretending to be innocent.

Alex thought about it for a second, and thought it doesn't really matter how Alex shows her body off, as long as Charlie sees her. "alright, cool"

"okay let me get changed and I'll be out there in a minute" Charlie said as she left Alex alone in the living room. A few minutes later Charlie walked down the stairs in nothing but a tiny black bikini.

"okay move your ass and get scrubbing" Charlie said as she pushed Alex out the door. After a few minutes of actually working to clean the car, Charlie 'accidentally' sprayed Alex with the hose as she was crouching down to pick up a sponge. Alex slowly stood up and turned around to see Charlie holding in her laughter.

"you're dead" Alex said as she grabbed the bucket and started chasing after Charlie. After some screams and giggles Alex finally caught up to Charlie and threw her over her right shoulder. Charlie was amazed at just how strong Alex was. Charlie let out a loud scream as Alex threw her to the ground with herself on top.

"you know you're pretty sexy in your little bikini" Charlie said to a very close Alex.

"is that so?" Alex said smirking.

"oh yeah, I feel like _anything_ could happen right now" she said in a sexy tone. Alex leaned in for another kiss which Charlie was more than happy to return.

"I'm so turned on right now" Charlie said moving her hand around Alex's back and down to her ass.

"really?" Alex asked in little shock.

"nope" Charlie said as she quickly pushed Alex off of her and started spraying her with the hose again.

Alex got up and stood their soaked from head to toe "you planned this didn't you?"

"no, technically you planned this, I just added a little fun to it" Charlie said.

"so you just wanted to have a little fun and see me in my bikini?"

"well that… and my car was in desperate need of a wash" Charlie said as she let out a short laugh. The rest of the week pretty much went on like this. All teasing but no action. It was a little game they played, and as much as Alex wanted to sleep with Charlie she was having fun. One day she even found a bra in her locker with a note attached to it.

"_Just a little preview_" was written on it. Of course she retaliated with pranks of her own, mostly being taking showers over at Charlie's house frequently and walking around in a towel.

Finally the day had come, it was their one month anniversary and Alex and Charlie couldn't be happier. After one week full of temptation they couldn't wait anymore. Their anniversary fell on a Friday of school and the morning had finally come. Charlie stepped out of her recently washed car and looked around to see Alex, but couldn't find her. She was a little surprised but it wasn't a big deal. She walked inside like any other day and walked to her locker. She opened the door to find a helium balloon and a bouquet of roses waiting for her. She opened the card that came along with the roses.

"_happy anniversary"_ was written on the card. Charlie smiled and then put the roses back into her locker.

"hey sexy" a voice came from behind Charlie, someone put their arms around Charlie's waist from behind. But Charlie knew who it was, mainly from the scent of her perfume. She smiled and turned around.

"right back at ya" Charlie said as she turned around still trapped in Alex's arms and kissed Alex on the lips. "thanks for the flowers, they were beautiful"

"anything for you. But I there is another surprise." Alex said smirking.

"oh, and what's that?" Charlie asked

"check out your balloon" Alex said. Charlie turned around and looked in her locker and pulled the balloon out. She turned around to ask Alex another question but she was gone. But when she turned around she noticed something. There was a piece of paper in the balloon. She grabbed a pen from her locker and quickly popped the balloon, which made a loud bang. A few people from the hallways covered their heads, one girl even let out a loud scream.

"sorry" Charlie said innocently to the by standers in the hallway. She bent down to pick up the paper to see it was a note.

"don't expect to see me too much during school today, but I'll meet you at your house after school. In the mean time have fun!" was written on the note. Charlie frowned a little when she read that she would see her during school. But she knew Alex and she knew she would have something planned. Just then the bell rang and Charlie quickly closed her locker and went to class. She walked in the class room to see a bunch of students huddling around her desk. She walked through the crowd and saw another colourful balloon on her desk waiting for her. She smiled and pulled the balloon down. She took out her trusty pen and popped it knowing there would be something inside.

"_You are beautiful"_ was written on the note. Charlie smiled at the cute note and put it in her pocket. For all of her classes that day she received a balloon in ever class. Each with it's own note, each with a cute saying on it, like "you're perfect" or "I can't wait…" Each note was cuter than the last. Lunch came around and to Charlie's dismay Alex wasn't around to eat with her. Instead she had lunch with Marco. They met at their usually spot outside school at the picnic table. Charlie was sitting down with her lunch waiting for the boy to arrive.

"hey, I was told to give this to you" Marco said smiling as he handed yet another balloon to her.

"another one?" Charlie asked taking the balloon from her hand.

"how many have you gotten?" Marco asked.

"4" she replied as she pulled out her pen and popped the balloon, another note fell to the floor.

"expect more to come" Marco said, he was obviously in on the whole game Alex was playing with Charlie. She opened the note and read what it had to say.

"_I know you want me" _was written on the note. Obviously Alex was getting a little cocky. Just then Manny walked up to Marco and Charlie.

"hey guys" she said sweetly.

"hey" they said back at the same time.

"so Charlie I got your note, and I'll let the squad know that you can't make it today" she said.

"note? What note?" Charlie asked.

"the one you left in my locker?" Manny asked not to sure of her self anymore. Charlie was still confused.

"well it said you couldn't make it to practice today" Manny said.

Marco finally caught on "oh yeah, uh she had plans after school today" he said.

"okay good, for a second there I thought someone else broke into my locker and left me some random note. I'll talk to you later" and with that Manny left.

"what note?" a confused Charlie asked again.

"isn't it obvious, Alex got you out of practice today so get you home earlier" Marco said. Charlie finally understood.

"oh okay. That's so sweet" Charlie said.

"yeah yeah, adorable." Marco replied trying not to go too deep into the subject. After school Charlie received her last balloon. She was walking to her car when she saw something pink inside. She realized it was another balloon. She opened the door and quickly popped the balloon, by this time she was used to the loud bang it made. After all she had popped like 6 already.

Charlie opened the last note to read what it said.

"I love you" was written on the note. Charlie gave a small smile and got in her car and headed home. She opened her front door anxiously to see what was waiting for inside. She turned the knob and walked inside. All of the lights were off and curtains were closed to add to the ambience. Several pink balloons were tied to the side of the staircase leading up stairs. None of them had a note inside of it but written on every balloon was "I love you." Charlie slowly made her way up the stairs and with every step she got more excited. She finally made her way into her room to see several lit candles around in various spots, but so far no Alex. Just then Charlie smelled a sweet scent from behind. It was a familiar scent and every time Charlie smelled it she smiled knowing it was Alex.

"this is amazing" Charlie said as she turned around to see Alex standing right behind her.

"how did you know I was behind you?" Alex asked still smiling.

"just a feeling" Charlie said as she leaned in for a gentle kiss, which Alex was more than happy to kiss back. Charlie could feel Alex's hands go all around her body.

"mmm, before we go on. I just want to say thank you" said Charlie.

"for what?" Alex asked taking her lips back for a second.

"for waiting. I know it will just make everything that much more special" Charlie said as she resumed her kissing. Soon clothes were shed and the girls were in Charlie's bedroom with the door closed. After a while of enjoying each other the girls finally stopped. They were just lying in Charlie's bed under the covers, naked of course, but never the less they were happy. If they could they would freeze this moment forever. Because for them, this moment was like eternal bliss.

"and?" Charlie asked smiling into Alex's neck.

"and what?" Alex asked kissing Charlie forehead.

"was it worth waiting for?" Charlie asked

"I guess…" Alex said hesitantly.

"you guess?" Charlie asked a little taken back.

"yeah sure the sex was great, but that's not why I waited for a week."

"what do you mean?"

"the sex wasn't worth waiting for-" Alex started but was cut off by Charlie's scoff. "let me finish…" Alex said. "the sex wasn't worth waiting for… you were"

Charlie looked up into Alex's eyes while still holding the sheets to her body. "have I told you how much I love you lately?"

"yeah um like an hour ago, when you were screaming out my name" Alex said making herself laugh aloud. Charlie just gave Alex a playful slap as she lay back down.

"ow" Alex said like she was actually injured.

"oh please, you know you love it" Charlie said pulling Alex's arm around her shoulder.

"no, I love you" Alex said as she leaned in for another kiss with her girlfriend.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Blind**

It had been a couple of weeks since Alex told her mom about Charlie, she had gone back home instead of staying with Charlie because she knew if she stayed any longer she would never go home. Alex entered her apartment

"mom?" Alex asked

"Alex?" she asked.

"yeah"

"where have you been?" she asked.

"I stayed with Charlie for the night" Alex said heading towards her bedroom

"wait, Alex, I want to talk to you" she said sitting down on the couch. Alex didn't say anything she just sat down beside her.

"about before, I shouldn't have hit you, I'm sorry, you know I love you. It's just that when you told me about…"

"Charlie…" Alex finished for her.

"yeah, her. Listen, it's just I was surprised when you told me, I mean you were dating that other boy, Jay, for a while and then for a while now I haven't seen you with anyone. And out of no where you're dating this Charlie"

"…" Alex didn't say anything, she wanted to say something to comfort her mom but had no idea what to say. "yeah…" was all she could get out of her mouth.

"it's just parents never really expect their child to be gay, they may see signs but choose to ignore it. It's just my motherly nature. I'm so sorry Lexi" she said.

It had been a while since anyone, let alone her mother called her Lexi, actually she only let Jay and her mother call her Lexi, but in an odd way it was comforting. "so are you okay with this?" Alex asked hoping nothing bad would happen.

"if you're really serious about this girl, then I am okay with it… I guess" she said. Alex knew she really wasn't comfortable, but she was happy that she was trying to adapt.

"thanks mom" Alex said tightly hugging her.

"so I want to meet this girl, I know I already met her, but I want to meet her, meet her,like formally." She said

"alright…" Alex said not too excited about her mom meeting her girlfriend. Her mom didn't even know that Charlie wasn't her first girlfriend, but her wanting to meet her was a good thing, hopefully. "I'll talk to her then" Alex said as she got up to go to her room. Alex sat on her bed for a second, her _mom_ wanted to meet her _girlfriend_. What happens if her mom doesn't like her, she's her mom, it could change everything. But now wasn't the time to talk about it, she had to talk to Charlie. So she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Charlie's number.

"hello?" her sweet voice asked

"Barker, hey!" Alex said.

"hey baby, what's up?"

"nothing, I'm just at home, what about you?"

"I'm just at practice, so make it quick."

"okay, so I talked to my mom a few minutes ago about us…" Alex started.

"and what did she say?" Charlie asked intrigued.

"she wants to meet you…" Alex said giving a fake, yet awkward laugh.

"really? She wants to meet me? Again?" Charlie asked seeing the squad waiting for her, she held up one finger signaling she would only be a minute.

"ha ha, yeah that's what she said" Alex said

"alright, set it up and I'll be there. Now I got to go, okay? Cheerleaders can be vicious sometimes…" Charlie said seeing that the squad was giving her a death stare.

"yeah okay, I will. Love you" Alex said while laughing into the phone.

"love you too, bye"

"bye" Alex said and hung up the phone. This means it was actually going to happen, her mom was going to meet her girlfriend. She made reservations at a restaurant a few minutes from her place on Saturday, it wasn't the best restaurant but it was good for what it was.

Saturday came around and Alex was nervous as hell. She couldn't help but feel her doubts about the dinner tonight. Alex and her mom were going to take a taxi down to the restaurant since Alex's mom didn't have a car and Charlie's Jag only had seats for two. So they agreed to meet there at 7:00pm. Charlie wanted to make sure everything went perfect that night because she knew how important it was to Alex that her mom and her get along so she showed up 10 minutes early. Charlie decided to wear a cute black dress with matching shoes to make sure she made a good impression. Alex and her mom showed up just after 7:00

"hey Charlie" Alex said kissing her on the cheek

"hey babe" she replied back. "where's your mom?" Charlie asked as she looked around to see Alex by herself.

"she's just checking her coat. Now before she comes, just uh, don't get into anything about politics and definitely don't bring up our make out sessions or anything like that. Oh and don't order anything too messy for dinner" Alex said trying to brief her girlfriend.

"Alex, babe, calm down, everything is going to be great" Charlie said trying to comfort Alex. "And don't worry, I brought my special spoon for the giant bowl of ice cream for desert" she said as a joke. Alex gave out a nervous laugh, before she got up to see her mother.

"Charlie, you know my mom" Alex said pointing to her mom

"yes, Mrs. Nunez, hi nice to see you… again" Charlie said sticking out her hand for her to shake.

"Hi, Charlie" she said nicely and shaking her hand. They all sat down in the booth they had, Alex and Charlie sat beside each other and Mrs. Nunez sat across from them. The waitress came around a few minutes later to give them menus.

"hi, I'm Wendy and I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you ladies off with some drinks?" the waitress said.

"yes, I'll have a water please." Charlie said looking up from the menu.

"make that two please" Alex said as well.

"can I have a white wine spritzer please?" Mrs. Nunez asked. Alex looked up at her mom realizing what she was ordered.

"mom…" Alex said in a motherly tone.

"on second thought, make that three waters please" Mrs. Nunez said

"alright, 3 waters coming up, I'll just give you a few minutes to look over the menu" she said as she walked away. The three girls were looking over the menus in silence; no one really knew what to say. The waitress came back a few minutes later with their drinks.

"so are you ready to order?" she asked.

"yes, I think so" Mrs. Nunez said. "I'll have the lasagna with a garden salad on the side." She ordered.

"I'll have a Caesar salad" Charlie said.

"and I'll have the Chicken Teriyaki" Alex said

"alright then" she said taking the menus. Once they realized they had nothing left to read they knew someone was going to have to start a conversation.

"so Charlie…" Mrs. Nunez started. Charlie looked up at Alex and then back at Mrs. Nunez. "Is that your real name?"

"uh no, actually my name is Charlotte, but everyone just calls me Charlie for short" Charlie said explaining.

"oh Charlotte, I like that name." Mrs. Nunez said sweetly. "so what kind of things are you interested in, any activities or sports?"

"uh yeah actually, I plan on playing for the softball team this year and I'm also head cheerleader at school" Charlie said trying to impress her girlfriend's mom.

"ohhhh. Cheerleading" Mrs. Nunez said not too impressed.

"yeah Charlie's also a straight A student" Alex added in just to make her look better, cheerleading wasn't exactly the most impressive thing to Mrs. Nunez.

"that's good" she said a little more impressed.

"Alex here's more of a C student" Mrs. Nunez said chuckling. Charlie laughed along just out of politeness.

"actually mom, I've brought my marks up to a B+ lately, you would have known that if you weren't drunk all the time. " Alex said saying the second part quietly, even though she knew everyone heard. Alex's mom just ignored it, she didn't want to start a scene at a restaurant.

"So Charlotte, how old are you?" Mrs. Nunez asked.

"18" she replied simply.

"oh okay, you know Alex is turn 18 soon too" she said looking at Alex

"really? You never told me that" Charlie said surprised. "when is it exactly?"

"in a few weeks it's not a big deal." Alex said

"it's your 18th birthday! Of course it's a big deal, so when is it?" Charlie asked.

"April 27th" Mrs. Nunez said for Alex. Alex shot her own mother a glare. "what?" Mrs. Nunez asked quietly. Just then the food came. Everyone was kind of eating their food, not really talking. Charlie wanted to talk but she didn't know what to say to Mrs. Nunez, she knew nothing about her. And things only got worse when Alex went to the bathroom. Of course there was that familiar awkward silence.

"so have any embarrassing stories about Alex?" Charlie asked shrugging her shoulders. She knew it was better to talk about embarrassing stories about Alex rather than have an awkward silence.

Mrs. Nunez just smiled "oh yeah. Let's see, when Lexi was in 2nd grade she had an obsession with the Mutant Ninja Turtles, why, I'll never know but when it was Halloween she decided to dress up as one of them, she loved it so much that she didn't take it off for 2 weeks." Charlie couldn't help but laugh so hard at this.

"what about you? Do you have any stories about my little Lexi" Mrs. Nunez asked taking a sip of water.

"um, lets see, okay, Alex was staying over a few days ago and she didn't have any clothes to change into so I let her borrow some of mine, and apparently my mom walked in the room right when she was in the middle of changing. She saw everything" Charlie said trying to tell the complete story without breaking out laughing first. The two were laughing so loud everyone in the restaurant

Alex came back smiling, she saw that her mom and girlfriend were actually laughing, but didn't know what they were laughing at.

"hey guys, what's so funny?" Alex asked sitting down. The two were laughing so hard that they could barely speak.

"oh hey Lexi, we were just sharing some stories" Charlie said between laughs.

As soon as Alex heard 'Lexi' she knew it couldn't be good. "what do you mean _stories?_" Alex asked

"Ninja turtles…" Charlie said bursting out laughing and wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"oh mom you didn't…" Alex started as she put her face in her hands.

"hey I'm not the only one who's been telling stories, your girlfriend said something about getting changed and Mrs. Barker walking in on you" Mrs. Nunez said started laughing.

"oh Charlie, _you_ didn't…" Alex repeated. The rest of the night was pretty good, all the laughs were basically directed at Alex but still it was good. After dinner, Mrs. Nunez went to the bathroom to give Charlie and Alex sometime alone.

"so that went pretty good" Charlie said holding Alex's hand.

"yeah, maybe for you" Alex said jokingly.

"oh come on, it was just a few harmless stories…Lexi" Charlie said smirking.

"ahh, yes Lexi, my mom's nickname for you. Very few people actually call me that, so don't make it a habit. Plus she likes to call you Charlotte." Alex said

"Yeah, but I don't mind being called Charlotte, it's my name, but Lexi however, that is something I can use against you…" Charlie said smiling.

"you know she called you my girlfriend?" Alex pointed out.

"she did? When?" Charlie asked.

"when she was all like 'I'm not the only one who's been telling stories, your girlfriend said…'"

"oh yeah, I guess she did." Charlie said realizing she was right.

"she likes you. She doesn't usually get along with people like that, all laughing and making jokes, even if they are about me, I'm still happy" Alex said. Just then Mrs. Nunez came back.

"alright let's go, the taxi is here" she said

"okay bye Charlie" Alex said giving her a quick kiss.

"by Charlotte" Mrs. Nunez said giving her a nice little wave.

"Bye, it was nice seeing you Mrs. Nunez, we're going to have to share more stories sometime" Charlie said. Alex kind of pushed her mother towards to door.

"don't encourage her" Alex said as a joke, and they were gone. Soon Charlie got up and left. She couldn't help but think that everything was now perfect, she and her girlfriend were happy, and out, and Alex's mom was great. Nothing could bring Charlie down from this high.

While in the taxi…

"so what do you think of Charlie?" Alex asked her mother.

"I like her, I really do" Mrs. Nunez said smiling at Alex

"really? 'cause I really like her mom" Alex said sincerely.

"I know you do honey, and I'm okay with it, it will take me a while to get use to it, but she's nice and I like her" she said. "I just have one question…"

"yeah?"

"is Charlotte your first girlfriend?" She asked. Alex froze for a second, she had dated other girls, but only told her mom about this one, but figured since everything was going so good she might as well tell her.

"no…" Alex started. "I've had about 4 other girlfriends."

"do I know any of them?" She asked a bit shocked and ashamed of herself.

"one"

"who?"

"…Paige" Alex said hesitantly

"Paige, your friend, Paige?" She asked

"well back then she really wasn't my friend, she was my girlfriend, but we're not so close anymore" Alex said.

"wow, I've been so blind" Mrs. Nunez said as she went back to staring out the window.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Surprise!**

During lunch…

"so, you know Alex's birthday is coming up soon and I was thinking, 18 is big so we could have a surprise party for her, you know just a few close friends, have a little music, no Paige…" Charlie said.

"okay, okay, I get it, never invite Paige to anything again. So where are we going to have this get together?" Marco asked.

"my place, my parents are going away for another weekend" Charlie said.

"alright cool, you make an invite list and I'll do the rest."

"alright thanks Marco, you know you're my favourite gay friend" Charlie said getting up.

"seriously, why does everyone have to broadcast that I'm gay?" Marco said yelling out in anger.

"I'm not the one yelling it across the café, pretty boy" Charlie said walking backwards. At that moment Marco realized there were several students looking at Marco and giving him a funny face. Marco knew he fell for Charlie's joke and couldn't do anything about it.

The day before the party…

"hey Marco" Charlie said sitting down.

"hey, I've got the food list" he said

"great, and the invites are out?"

"gone" he said smiling

"and she has no idea right?" Charlie said

"of course not…" he replied

"ok good, hey, listen, what did you get her?" Charlie asked curiously

"I got her this book she's been hinting at for weeks" he said laughing quietly

"she told you what she wanted?!" Charlie asked surprised.

"yeah, didn't she tell you?"

"no!"

"then what did you get her?" Marco asked

"umm, well I haven't really…" Charlie started

"you haven't gotten her a present yet?!?!" Marco practically screamed.

"will you keep it down. I have no idea what the hell she wants" Charlie said

"Charlie, the party is tomorrow… You better have something in mind" he said.

"I know, I know, I'm trying but she is hard to shop for. Any ideas?"

"yeah, get your ass to the mall and buy something for your girlfriend!"

After cheerleading practice, Charlie drove over to the mall and started walking around. _What could she want?_ Charlie thought to herself. It had to be something special, because they were dating and all. But then it hit her, she had the perfect present, but it wasn't in the mall. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.

"hey uncle Steven, it's Charlie, your favourite niece, listen I know it's short notice, but can you do me a favour? Okay great" Charlie said as she walked back to her car.

The next day…

"happy birthday baby!" Charlie yelled as she ran up to her girlfriend to give her a birthday kiss.

"aww thanks sweetie" Alex said kissing her back. "now where's my present?" Alex said greedily. She was probably more excited about the present than her kiss.

"it's coming… tonight, when we go out. Okay?" Charlie said.

"alright…" Charlie said jokingly disappointed. "what time?"

"7:00pm, come over to my place and then we'll head out, okay?"

"alright see you then." Alex said smiling sweetly.

Alex thought Charlie's plan was to go out for dinner for her birthday and afterwards to comeback to her house for a little 'birthday fun'. And of course Alex thought 'birthday fun' meant something else.

Alex and Charlie walked up to Charlie's front door as she pulled out her key to open the door "ready to have a little fun?" Charlie asked smiling

"of course" Alex said smiling back and holding onto Charlie's waist from behind. Charlie and Alex walked in and Alex flipped on the light.

"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled as the light turned on. Alex gasped, and Charlie just looked at her expression, but something was wrong. Charlie knew Alex's surprised face and that wasn't it. Alex looked at Charlie trying to convince her but it wasn't working.

"oh my god! Who told you?!" Charlie asked in a pissed off tone. Charlie had worked so hard for this surprise party and it turned out it was more party than surprise.

"what do you mean?" Alex asked not making eye contact with Charlie, she couldn't lie if she was looking into Charlie's beautiful hazel eyes.

Charlie looked at Alex's face and saw her expression. Right then she knew who was to blame. "Marco! I'm going to kill you!" Charlie yelled as she was about to take off in the crowd to find Marco but was held back by Alex.

"okay forget it, it's the thought that counts" Alex said pulling Charlie into a kiss. Charlie was angry at first but she thought since it was Alex's birthday she could forget about it just this once.

"yeah okay…" Charlie said letting it go. "So do you like it?" Charlie asked as she and Alex looked around at the people and the decorations.

"I love it" Alex said kissing Charlie again. Everyone else at this point was just kind of standing around, casually talking to each other. But Marco started walking towards the two girls.

"happy birthday" Marco said handing Alex a book with a bow on it.

"oh, how ever did you know?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"oh that reminds me, I have your present too, hold on" Charlie said as she walked into the kitchen.

"I thought the party was my present… what did she get me?" Alex asked trying to figure it out.

"I don't know, she told me yesterday she didn't have anything, but even if I did know I wouldn't tell you, I've already given away too many secrets" Alex just laughed. A minute later Charlie walked in with 3 older guys behind her. Everyone in the room just gasped, especially Alex when she saw who it was.

"oh my god…" was all Alex could say.

"Alex, I want you to meet a few close friends of mine" Charlie said stepping out of the way to show Alex who they were. "Alex, meet Steven, Joe and Tom from Aerosmith." Charlie said smiling when she saw Alex's face.

"Alex, hi, it's nice to meet little Charlie's girlfriend." Steven Tyler said.

"you… you're Steven Tyler from Aerosmith" Alex said nervously. Alex couldn't tear her eyes off of him and the two guys standing beside him.

"Happy Birthday" Charlie whispered into Alex's ear.

"but how did you pull this off?" Alex asked Charlie.

"well Steven's daughter used to baby sit me when I was younger and she was like a sister to me. And Steven here has been like an uncle to me ever since, actually, I call him Uncle Steven. So I pulled a few strings and they were thank fully able to squeeze your party in" Charlie said holding Alex's hand.

"I can't believe this, this is… amazing" Alex said kissing Charlie on the cheek. "thank you so much babe. And you too guys, you have no idea how much I love your band" Alex said to the band.

"oh anything for Charlie's girlfriend. So how about we get some music going?" Steven said loudly so the whole room could hear, and they did and started cheering. The guys stepped up to the instruments set up in the corner of the room and spoke into the microphone.

"okay guys, we're going to start things off with a special request from my favourite niece to her beautiful girlfriend. Happy birthday Alex." Steven said as they started to play 'crazy'.

"may I have this dance, Miss. Nunez?" Charlie asked as they stepped into the middle of the dance floor. For a while they were the only ones on the dance floor and everyone was kind of watching them dance. They started to slow dance to the song, soon Marco and Dylan joined in and then other couples started to join in too.

"you have no idea how much this means to me, babe" Alex said with her hands around Charlie's waist.

"well I knew I had to get you something good and then I remembered the first time I met you. It was my first day of school and you gave me a tour of the school. And when you walked into that office I could hear the Aerosmith music blaring from your headphones and I just thought that this would be perfect"

"anything with you would be perfect" Alex said.

In the middle of the song Alex decided to sing along to the song while serenading Charlie at the same time "… I go crazy, crazy, for you baby…" Alex quietly sang as she twirled Charlie. Charlie laughed a little bit at how cute her girlfriend was.

The rest of the night went perfect, no interruptions from unwanted guests, but Aerosmith couldn't stay for the whole night but wished Alex a happy birthday, as did everyone else. After some lively songs and an embarrassing 'happy birthday' song sang by everyone at the party, everyone went home a few hours later. Alex decided to stick around to spend some time with Charlie. They sat down on the couch and looked around at the mess of a house.

"I can't believe you did all of this for me" Alex said looking at the room.

"I would do anything for you, babe" Charlie said. "well I better start cleaning up" Charlie said grabbing a garbage bag and getting up from the couch.

"wait." Alex said pulling Charlie back down onto the couch. "just sit here with me for a minute" Alex said as she wrapped her arms around Charlie and kissed her on the cheek from behind.

"I like this." Charlie said

"like what?" Alex asked

"spending time with you, just sitting here in your arms. It's just perfect" Charlie said getting comfortable.

"you're right, you are perfect" Alex said smiling. Charlie turned around and kissed Alex quickly.

Charlie started get up "okay that's enough perfect time, grab a bag and start cleaning up." Alex just laughed and looked at Charlie who held out a garbage bag for Alex.

"you're serious?" Alex asked as she stopped laughing and followed Charlie.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Nothing ever lasts**

Everything had been going perfect for Alex and Charlie, and everyone basically. No one had heard or seen Paige for a while so they automatically suspected she was over Charlie. Mrs. Nunez was finally getting comfortable around Charlie and everything just going great. And in stories when everything is going good, something bad happens.

In the gym

"okay ladies so in addition to the cheerleading squad I'm going to be trying out for the girls softball team, so if I do make the team I'll be spending two days a week at practice, and in my absence you're going to need a substitute captain, so I hear by name Manny Santos the assistant captain, so when I'm gone she's in charge." Charlie said at the conference with the cheerleading squad. A few days later Charlie of course made the softball team and was even named captain of the team. Everybody was satisfied with everything, especially Charlie

Charlie was running late for softball practice and by the time she got onto the field she saw everyone on the team crowding around in a circle, meaning the coach was having a talk with them. Charlie jogged her way to the circle and squeezed through to see what was going on.

"Barker, nice to see our captain is making an excellent example for the younger players" the coach said. Charlie froze there for a second, but not because of what the coach said, it was because Paige Michalchuk was standing next to him.

"anyways, as I was saying before Charlie interrupted us, we've had a late addition to the team. I've seen Paige play a little and she is good, she will make an excellent softball player and hopefully lead us to the championship"

Paige just smirked when she saw Charlie, Paige was holding a wooden bat over her right shoulder with a baseball glove attached to the bottom all while wearing the ever trusty baseball cap.

"aww, you've got to be kidding me!" Charlie accidentally said out loud.

"what's that Barker?" the coach asked angrily.

"nothing coach" she said quietly.

"good!" he said "now get on the field, Paige you're going to take Charlie's spot as short stop and Charlie you're going to first."

"now she's taking my position?" Alex accidentally shouted again.

"one more word Barker, and you're out of here" Coach said yelling across the field. Charlie just walked over to first base and despite the fact that her worst enemy at Degrassi was playing on the same field as her, she was going to work through it. Nothing was going to stop her from having fun on this team, especially next week when the team would travel down to London, Ontario for their annual tournament. The softball team would drive down to London for two days every year. They would leave Friday morning and miss a day of school and then come back sometime the next day. Charlie was so excited about the trip, it was all she could talk about for the next week. She would basically bring it up in every conversation possible because she was excited that got to stay up late in a hotel room with some of her friends on the team. Unfortunately Alex couldn't come as a guest because she couldn't afford to miss a day of school, especially in her senior year. But Charlie was okay with it, there was a reason she had a cell phone.

It was Friday night and Charlie was in her hotel room with three other girls from the team, unfortunately one of them was Paige, funny how it works out like that. Charlie decided to call up Alex telling her all about the tournament so far.

"hello?" Alex asked answering her phone.

"hey baby" Charlie said

"hey! How's London?"

"good, good. We won all of our game today! So we're gonna play at least two games tomorrow"

"that's great Charlie, so how's the hotel room?" Alex asked in a sexy voice.

"oh it great, all us girls here are just in our lingerie having pillow fights, oh it's fantastic!" Charlie said making a joke.

"oh really? Pillow fights in your lingerie? Do they all match like we do?" Alex asked slyly.

"oh of course they do" Charlie said laughing.

"I wish I could be down there to watch you" Alex said.

"Alex, you've already seen me… you know last weekend when my parents weren't home…" Charlie said

"I meant your games, you whore" Alex said laughing.

"oh okay well either way I wish you were here to watch me" Charlie said making Alex laugh.

"so who are you sharing your hotel room with?" Alex asked curiously

"umm there's Jamie, Kate and… uhh, Paige" Charlie said.

"wait! Paige?!" Alex asked freaking out.

"yeah, didn't I tell you she joined the team last week?"

"uh let me think, NO!" Alex said.

"oh well, Paige joined the team last week" Charlie said jokingly.

"that's it I'm coming down there right now." Alex said.

"Alex, come on, London is like 4 hours away, and don't worry I can handle Paige myself." Charlie said.

"okay, but call me when you wake up, and don't drink anything she gives you!" Alex said half serious, half jokingly.

"alright I will, bye Alex, I love you" Charlie said

"I love you too, bye" Alex said and hung up the phone. Charlie turned around to turn her attention back to her 3 room mates for the night and saw Paige standing right behind her.

"pillow fights in our lingerie?" Paige asked

"you were listening in on my phone call?" Charlie asked insulted

"sorry I can't shut off my ears, but I can make the pillow fight/lingerie thing come true" Paige said winking at Charlie.

"you wish Paige" Charlie said walking by her.

"yeah I do" Paige said turning around to face Charlie.

"you do what?" asked Jamie, one of the other girls in the room who was lying down on the bed watching a movie.

"nothing" Charlie answered for Paige. "I'm going to take a shower and then go to bed" she said as she got up and walked into the bathroom. After Charlie stepped out of the bathroom dressed in her pajamas; short shorts and a small tank top, she saw Jamie and Kate already asleep on one bed and Paige was lying down on the other bed. Considering there was only two beds, it was two girls to a bed, and guess who Charlie had to sleep with.

"looks like it's just you and me, hun" Paige said with only her head shown, the rest of her body was under the quilt.

"what ever" Charlie said as she turned off all of the lights and climbed into the bed. She thought everything was being okay, sharing a bed with Paige meant nothing, technically this would mean they were sleeping with each other, but not really… Charlie had finally stopped freaking out about Paige and was ready to start falling asleep, that was until she felt something underneath the covers. It was two hands, and they definitely weren't hers. Charlie quickly flipped over to face Paige in the bed to see her smiling back at her.

"Paige? What are you doing?" Charlie whispered angrily. Paige just smiled back.

"Paige, your nose just healed, don't make me break it again" Charlie said threateningly.

"Charlie, I'm just having a little fun, I mean we are in a hotel room aren't we?"

"yeah, but that doesn't erase the fact that I have a girlfriend!" Charlie said

"oh come on" Paige said grabbing Charlie's hands on her body. It was then that Charlie realized Paige was naked under the covers, she quickly pulled her hands back in disgust.

"oh my god! Are you naked?!" Charlie accidentally yelled. She thought for a second that she would have woken up the other two girls, but they were out cold

"yeah, just planning ahead…" Paige said slyly. Charlie just looked at her hands as if they were on fire.

"oh Alex is going to kill you when she finds out" Charlie said getting up.

"oh what, is she the butch in the relationship? She takes care of all the fights?"

"uh, no, if you turn your attention back to a few weeks ago at Marco's party you'll remember my fist making contact with your face. I would punch you now if we didn't have a tournament to play tomorrow, but just wait until I tell Alex tomorrow."

Charlie got out of bed and took her pillow and a blanket from the closet, she threw her pillow on the ground and laid down.

The next morning Charlie woke up to the sound of the alarm set on her phone, she set the phone for 6:30am because as Captain it was her responsibility to wake up all of the girls and get them ready for the day. Charlie looked around in her room and quickly got dressed, but as she was putting on her spandex shorts she realized Paige wasn't in the room. She went over to Kate and Jamie to wake them up and get some answers.

"Hey! Wake up!" Charlie said shaking the two girls awake. They both groaned at the same time.

"where's Paige?" Charlie asked the two girls who were only half awake.

"she went… uhh… downstairs…" Kate managed to groan out.

"why?" Charlie asked fully awake and dressed now.

"for uhh… breakfast" Jamie added.

"okay well, I'll be back in a few minutes I have to go wake everyone else up, but when I get back I expect you guys to be dressed and ready." Charlie said as she hopped off their bed and ran out the door. Charlie was looking forward to waking all the girls up because the coach had given her a key to each of their rooms, and Charlie had brought a blow horn to help them get up a little quicker. So every room she went into, she quietly snuck in and when everything was dead silent, she would blow the horn and wait for everyone to get up. It was kind of funny because at the sound of the horn everyone would basically jump out of the bed, some girls even fell off.

"what the hell?" one of the freshman girls asked rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"just a little morning wake up call." Charlie said cheerfully as she got up and ran out of the room to wake up some more people. After everyone was completely awake Charlie went back to her room to get her bag and room mates. Downstairs Charlie had grabbed some breakfast courtesy of the hotel and sat down at a table by herself. She knew Kate and Jamie would come over and sit down once they got their breakfast, but in the mean time she thought she would call Alex.

"hello?" Alex answered her phone.

"hey, it's me" Charlie started "you would not believe what happened to me last night…"

"yeah I can't wait to hear all about it" Alex started. Charlie could barely hear Alex over all of the noise in the background.

"where are you?" Charlie asked

"oh I'm just at this place getting breakfast. And I have to tell you right now, there is some hot girl sitting at this table not too far from me" Alex said

"why would you tell me something like that?" Charlie said. She thought for a second and finally figured it out. Charlie turned around to see Alex sitting at the table behind her, talking on her cell phone and smiling at Charlie.

"oh my god!" Charlie said as she hung up her phone to go see Alex. "what are you doing here babe?"

"well I just couldn't stay away for more than 24 hours, I love you too much. Plus Paige was here and I wanted to make sure you were okay. And by the looks of it you're pretty happy" Alex said looking at Charlie.

"come sit, have breakfast with me." Charlie said pulling her girlfriend towards her table. As soon as they sat down Jamie and Kate came too.

"Alex! Hey what are you doing here?" Jamie asked placing a tray on the table.

"oh isn't it obvious she couldn't stay away from her girlfriend for more than a day, especially since they're in a hotel" Kate added making everyone laugh.

"it's true…" Alex said. She looked up around the room and saw Paige looking at her, then quickly look away, like she was scared.

"what's with scaredy Paige?" Alex asked the table.

"I don't know she seemed kind of weird this morning" Jamie said looking at her and then back at Alex. Alex just looked at Charlie. Who gave her a 'I'll tell you later' kind of a look. So Alex just dropped it. On the way to the baseball park Alex rode in Charlie's car with her, while everyone else took the coaches cars. Charlie was the only girl on the team who actually had her own car.

"so what happened with Paige?" Alex asked anxiously

"um, promise not to freak out until after the tournament but…" Charlie started. But Alex cut her off.

"but?!" Alex asked already freaking out.

"now see, that's freaking out. And I haven't even told you what happened yet…" Charlie said smiling at the image of Alex getting all jealous.

"okay, I'm calm now. What did she do?" Alex said taking a deep breath and embracing herself for whatever the news could be.

"well we kind of had to share a bed last night, and she kind of put her hands on my body, then I was all like 'what the hell Paige' and then she was like 'we're just having some fun' and then she put _my_ hands on _her_ body, which was completely and totally naked. So I got all pissed and slept on the floor" Charlie said rather quickly.

"SHE WHAT?!" Alex yelled in the car.

"well we had to share a bed last night…" Charlie started to say slowly.

"no, Charlie I heard you, I just can't believe that bitch!" Alex yelled.

"I know right! I thought I was going to have to chop of my hands after she put them on her body" Charlie said back.

"I am going to kill her when I get out of this car" Alex said with a fiery look in her eyes.

"no, Alex you can't. I hate to say it but we need her for the tournament today, she is actually a pretty good player, she's a whore, but a good player." Charlie said.

"so, what? I have to wait until tomorrow to kill her?" Alex said mad.

"um, no. Just until we get knocked out of the tourney, if we do get knocked out. After that you can hit her and we'll ride home together okay?"

"yeah alright." Alex said crossing her arms and pouting like a five-year-old. "naked?!" she asked again to clarify.

"mmhmm" Charlie confirmed. Charlie and Alex were the last to arrive at the park, when they got there they saw everyone already out on the field warming up. Charlie noticed this and started to rush to the field.

"I got to go babe" Charlie said kissing Alex on the cheek and running off onto the field.

"good luck" Alex shouted as she sat down on the bleachers. Degrassi played three games that day, the final game was the championship, they would either take home the silver or gold, but they were very determined to take the gold and win it all.

It was the final inning of the game and Degrassi was up to bat. Everyone knew that Paige was the best player on the field but when it came to batting Charlie was the star and everyone knew it. The score was tied and of course Charlie was up to bat. It was like fate. All Charlie needed was a homerun and she would win the game. The first pitch came by it was a strike, but Charlie didn't swing at it. The second pitch came by and Charlie once again watched the perfect pitch go by. The third pitch was coming and Charlie knew she could hit the ball, and that's exactly what she did. She hit the ball like she had never hit it before, and it went flying. Charlie started running the bases, but everyone else was watching the ball fly through the air, there was a fence 250 feet away and if the ball landed out side of it, it meant an automatic homerun. And being that the batter was Charlie the ball hit the tip of the fence and bounced out. Everyone on the bench started cheering like crazy and all ran out to greet Charlie at home plate. She came in and jumped into the arms of her team mates. It was all screaming and cheering from the team. After the game Alex went to sit beside Charlie as the team had their end of the game pep talk.

"after two long days, and 7 games I have to say I am very proud of you girls and you deserve those gold medals around your necks" the coach said. Alex looked at Charlie who was holding on to her medal like it was the most precious thing in the world to her. Alex gave Charlie a quick peck on the cheek and then went back to listening to the coach.

"now for our extra awards we have decided that the Most Improved player award goes to… Alison. And the Most Valuable Player was a very hard choice as their were two very key players on the team, but we decided the award should go to… Charlie, for her amazing hit that one us the game and her excellent leadership through out the season, she is one of the best captains we've ever had. Charlie jumped up screaming as she ran towards the coach to go get her trophy. Alex and Charlie started walking to Charlie's car getting ready to go home. Charlie was so caught up in her gold medal and MVP trophy she nearly walked into a tree. Good thing Alex was there. But before Charlie and Alex made it back to their car Kate and Jamie came running up behind her with a cooler full of water.

"hey Charlie!" They yelled together to get her attention so she would turn around.

"yeah?" Charlie asked turning back. But before she could move out of the way the two girls dumped the water all over her.

"thanks for a great tournament" they said together seeing Charlie soaked from head to toe. Kate and Jamie walked away giggling and Charlie just turned to Alex to see her girlfriend trying not to laugh at her.

"don't even…" Charlie said pointing her finger at Alex to stop her from laughing. But Alex couldn't hold it in.

"Charlie, you're all wet…" Alex said flirtatiously.

"maybe I could make you wet…" Charlie said strutted slowly towards Alex, shaking her hips with every step.

"oh really?" Alex asked.

"yeah…" Charlie said as she pulled out a bottle of water from her baseball bag.

"how are _you_ going to make _me_ all wet?" Alex asked pressing her forehead against Charlie's.

"like this…" Charlie said as she went in for a light kiss, before pouring the bottle of water over Alex's head. Charlie pulled back from the kiss so she wouldn't get wet herself. Alex just stood there in shock.

"wet enough for you?" Charlie asked sarcastically.

"oh, you're dead!" Alex said as she started chasing Charlie. They were weaving in and out of trees all while screaming and tickling each other, until Alex finally caught up with Charlie and lightly pushed her to the ground. Alex was lying on top of her

"you know, you're hot when you're wet" Charlie said to the girl now inches away from her face.

"right back at ya" Alex said as she leaned in for a kiss with her girlfriend. After spending a few minutes kissing they decided to go back to the car and go home.

Alex and Charlie both got into the car and shut the doors, Charlie put her MVP trophy on her dash board so she could look at it the whole way home, but before Charlie and Alex could leave, Alex saw Paige getting into one of the coach's cars. Alex got out of Charlie car and turned back to Charlie.

"I'll be back in a minute, but keep the engine running…" Alex said as she walked off in Paige's direction.

She walked up to Paige who quickly got up to face Alex, she couldn't show fear, she wouldn't.

"can I help you?" Paige said with attitude to Alex.

"yeah, you can get me some ice" Alex said

"for what?" Paige asked back confused.

"for this" Alex said as she punched Paige in the face. The coach quickly came up to Paige to see if she was okay. "maybe now you will stay the hell away from my girlfriend once and for all" Alex said walking away. She quickly got into Charlie's car and closed the door.

"alright, we can go" Alex said cheerfully.

Charlie put the car in gear and started to drive away "that girl just doesn't learn…"


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: A weekend away**

Alex and Charlie were outside eating their lunch at one of the picnic tables beside the school. Marco ran up to them and sat down excitedly.

"what's with you? Is Dylan back in town or something" Alex asked to Marco intending to make a joke.

"no, well yeah…" he said smiling at the thought of Dylan "But that's not why I am so happy. I have awesome news!" he said.

"what?" Alex asked back in curiosity

"my parents are letting me have the cottage this weekend and guess who is invited for a fun little getaway?!" Marco said.

"your parents are letting you have the cottage to yourself this weekend? No way" Charlie said surprisingly.

"yeah, so we and some other people are going to have the best weekend ever, I've got everything planned out." Marco said with stars in his eyes.

"wait, other people?" Alex asked hoping that Paige wasn't invited, she didn't how to deal with Paige anymore.

"and by other people I mean not Paige" Marco said as he saw both Alex and Charlie give out a sigh of relief. "I'm inviting Spin, Ellie, Craig, Ash, Jimmy and of course Dylan." He said smiling as he said 'Dylan'.

"Dylan?" Charlie asked

"homo's boyfriend" Alex answered for Marco

"yeah, and well… he's also Paige's brother" he added.

"she has a brother?" Charlie asked looking back and forth between Alex and Marco.

"yeah, but don't worry, he's really nice, and cute, and sweet…" Marco said getting lost in the thought of Dylan.

"okay I get it. So he's coming then?" Charlie said.

"yup" he replied

"Sounds good to me" Alex said as she looked over at Charlie who seemed happy but not the happiest.

"what's wrong babe?" Alex asked her distraught girlfriend.

"nothing… nothing, it's just that I don't really know your friends all that well. I mean a met them at the party but I haven't really talked to them since." Charlie said.

"well don't worry, this weekend will be the perfect time for you to get to know them, especially since I'm bringing the booze" Alex said winking at Marco.

"nice!" Marco said high fiving Alex. "okay well I'm going to go talk to the rest of the gang, I'll see you guys later" and with that Marco skipped off to go back inside Degrassi.

Alex smiled at the sight of Marco skipping off, he seemed really happy. Then Alex looked over at Charlie and her smile quickly faded as she saw that Charlie wasn't too excited for the trip. "what's wrong?" Alex asked her unhappy girlfriend.

"I don't know, it's just that last time I was drinking around a bunch of your friends all hell broke loose and I don't want a repeat." Charlie said. Alex got up and walked around the table to sit down beside Charlie, she put her arm around her and pulled her in closer.

"don't worry, Paige isn't going to be there, and I'll watch out for anyone who tries to kiss you." Alex said cracking a smile.

"promise?" Charlie said turning her head to face Alex.

"I promise" Alex said as she leaned in for a soft kiss with Charlie.

"alright, well I want to make a good impression with your friends this time. Last time I was drunk and kissing another girl, so this time why don't you come over after school today and we'll figure out something to get them, okay?" Charlie said smiling.

"wait, if you want to make a good impression why do I have to come over and help?" Alex asked confused.

"because if you help me, you may get a treat" Charlie said as she winked at Alex and walked back into the school. Alex sat there for a second and thought to her self 'hmm, I could go for a treat'.

_Later that day…_

Charlie and Alex were at Charlie's house and walked into the kitchen.

"so what are going to do that is going to win over all of my friends?" Alex asked as she leaned on the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"we, my beautiful girlfriend" Charlie started as she quickly gave Alex a kiss on the lips. "we are going to make them a little treat"

"I thought I was getting the treat?" Alex asked jokingly.

"oh you will, but your friends are going to get one too"

"Umm, I don't they're into the same treats as I am" Alex said jokingly.

"Ha ha, we are going to make them chocolate chip cookies, home made" Charlie said as she pulled a box of eggs out of her fridge.

"mmm, sounds good. Do you know how to bake?" Alex asked.

"no, but that's alright, because I have a book of recipes and my trusty girlfriend" Charlie said winking as she got out the rest of the required ingredients.

"can you get the bowl out of the cabinet by your feet there?" Charlie asked. Alex pulled out a bowl.

"have you ever made cookies before?" Alex asked slightly worried.

"no, but I mean how hard can it be, I just follow the recipe in the book." Charlie said opening up the book.

"if you say so…" Alex said rolling her eyes. She knew that this was going to be fun. "so since I'm not interested in doing any work, you be the chef, and I'll be the taste tester, okay?" Alex asked as she grabbed a magazine from a nearby table.

"alright…" Charlie said laughing. While Charlie was baking Alex wandered the house a little and stumbled across some old photo albums, she knew she probably shouldn't be snooping but she couldn't help herself, she had to see what Charlie looked like when she was younger. She opened the album and flipped a few pages until she found one picture in particular. She was about to go make fun of Charlie when Charlie called her back into the kitchen to see the cookies. So Alex quickly put the album away. After 45 minutes of baking Charlie pulled out her first batch of cookies from the oven.

"alright, my little taste tester, it's time for you to do your part." Charlie said as she carefully grabbed a cookie and handed it to Alex. Charlie face was partly covered in cookie dough and flour, it was like a scene out of a TV show or something.

"alright, but if I die, it will be on your conscience " Alex said before she took a bite out of the cookie. She started chewing and Charlie started nodding and smiling thinking that her cookies were going to be awesome, that was until she saw Alex's face turn to disgust.

"umm, when you put the eggs into the bowl, how exactly did you do it?" Alex said spitting her cookie into a napkin.

"what do you mean? I just put the eggs in and started beating, how else are you supposed to do it?" Charlie asked confused.

"so wait, you put the eggs in? whole?" Alex asked, Charlie just nodded.

"oh Charlie, honey… you're not supposed to do that…" Alex said trying to ease the news to Charlie. Charlie looked sad as if she had failed, she tried her hardest, she really did. It wasn't her fault if she didn't know anything about baking.

"aww, don't worry Barker. I'll help you this time." Alex said as she stood beside Charlie at the counter. Charlie turned to Alex still a little sad, but happy that Alex was going to help her.

"alright, thanks babe." Charlie said as she pulled Alex into a little hug. After the hug they came face to face and Alex wiped a little cookie dough off of Charlie face and licked her finger.

"yeah, you really do need help." Alex said as her face cringed at the taste and crunching of the cookie dough in her mouth.

"ugh, it was my first time" Charlie said as she grabbed a little cookie dough and put it on Alex's face.

"well maybe now that I'm helping the cookies will actually turn out good" Alex said as she flicked some cookie dough onto Charlie face. Charlie just gasped.

"oh yeah?" Charlie said turning to face Alex with a smile.

"yeah" Alex said doing the same thing as Charlie.

"well I know how I can make these cookies taste even better" Charlie said slyly.

"oh and how is that?"

"like this…" Charlie said as she grabbed some cookie dough from the bowl on one finger and let Alex lick it off.

"mmm, you know what? This does taste better" Alex said.

"here, why don't you try some more" Charlie said throwing a ball of cookie dough at Alex's face. Alex stood there smiling, with an angry, yet joking smile and slowly wiped the cookie dough off of her face.

"you're dead" Alex said as she grabbed the bowl of cookie dough and started Chasing after Charlie. Charlie let out a loud girly scream and ran away. After 15 minutes of chasing each other around with cookie dough Charlie found her self hiding behind the island in the kitchen not knowing where Alex was hiding with a bowl of cookie dough. She could tell that she had cookie dough and flour on her clothes and in her hair, but that wasn't her main priority of fear, it was finding her girlfriend.

"Alex?" she asked innocently. There was no reply, but then she heard something fall in the dining room. Charlie got up and crouched over to the noise. She looked in the room, but didn't see anyone so she stood up straight to look past the furniture.

"gotchya" Alex said as she jumped up from behind a table turned on it's side from behind Charlie. Charlie turned around only to have more cookie dough thrown at her. Charlie charged Alex and knocked her to the floor. She was straddling Alex on the floor and looked down at her girlfriend. She like herself, was covered in cookie dough and couldn't stop laughing. Charlie bent down and kissed Alex softly trying not to laugh. Charlie broke the kiss and leaned over to Alex's shoulder and kissed off some more cookie dough.

"you know, I've changed my mind. This is the best cookie dough I've ever had" Alex said wiping more cookie dough off of her girlfriend and licking her finger. Charlie and Alex were about to kiss again when Alex's phone started to ring. She pulled the phone out of her pocket with two fingers hoping not to get it too dirty with all the cookie dough on her fingers.

"hello?" Alex asked smiling as Charlie was still sitting on top of her. Charlie started to tickle Alex a little just to make her conversation on the phone harder.

"hey where are you guys? We're about to leave" Marco said. Alex looked down at her watch and realized what time it was. She and Charlie were supposed to meet everyone over at Marco's house so they could drive down together, but Alex forgot.

"oh shit, sorry. Me and Charlie got caught up in something" Alex said winking at Charlie. "umm we're might be an hour or two so why don't Charlie and I drive down there by ourselves and we'll meet you guys?"

"alright, I'll email you the directions in a few minutes. Don't be too long with what you're doing…" Marco said slyly.

"what do you mean?" Alex asked trying not to laugh too hard considering Charlie was licking Alex's neck, pretending to get all the cookie dough off.

"let me guess, Charlie is on top of you right now" Marco said. Alex looked up smiling at Charlie, who was just smiling back down at Alex.

"okay, you're right. We'll be there in 2 hours okay?"

"alright, but no longer" Marco said as he hung up the phone.

"who was that?" Charlie asked still sitting on top of Alex.

"Marco. I forgot I told him we would drive down with him, but you wanted to make the cookies. So, can you drive down there?" Alex asked.

"yeah of course. But first let's get these cookies done and I still have to pack and shower."

"alright" Alex said slapping Charlie thigh lightly signaling her to get off of her, but Charlie didn't move.

"umm, in order to get these things done, we physically have to move our bodies" Alex said sarcastically.

"I know, I was just enjoying the moment" Charlie said as she bent down to kiss Alex passionately.

An hour later, the cookies were made, and they actually tasted good and Charlie was packed and clean. Alex had already come packed knowing she would be leaving with Charlie but had to take another shower. Thankfully there was no one else at home to walk in on Alex while she was changing.

"ready to go?" Alex asked as she came down the stairs with a duffel bag in hand.

"yeah, you got the map?" Charlie asked grabbing her keys of the hook.

"yep, let's hit the road Jack." Alex said as she and Charlie both grabbed the sunglasses off of their heads and put them on at the same time and left the house. For the first half of the trip Charlie and Alex were taking lots of silly pictures together and of each other, and blasting the music while singing along to it as well. It was all just fun and games. About half way through the trip Alex decided to call Marco.

"hey Marco, you're on speaker" Alex said into the phone as she put him on speakerphone so that Charlie could hear too.

"hey guys, what's up?" he asked

"nothing, we're just reaching the halfway point" Charlie said keeping her eyes on the road.

"okay cool, so we're all settled me and Dylan are taking the master bedroom, you guys can have your own room, the three girls are going to take another room and the three guys are going to crash on the couch, cool?" he asked.

"wait, what do you mean three girls?" Alex asked praying that he just made a mistake.

"yeah… about that. See when I went back into school that day to invite the rest of the gang, Paige kind of over heard and she kind of invited her self. I'm really sorry…" he said. In the car Charlie and Alex couldn't help but look at each other in anger. They were angry at each other just that Paige would be there at the cottage with them, for a whole weekend.

"Marco I swear to God…" Charlie started but Marco cut her off.

"don't worry I have plans for tomorrow so that you guys can let your anger out" Marco said.

"what plans?" Alex asked calmly.

"well you'll figure that out tomorrow, won't you?" Marco said slyly. "so anyways, what's taking you guys so long, did you guys… you know…?" Marco started.

"goodbye Marco" Alex and Charlie said together as Alex hung up the phone. After a long one hour drive the two girls finally made it to Marco's cottage.

"well I guess we're here" Charlie said stepping out of the car. Marco walked out of the cottage to greet them and help them with any bags.

"it's about time" He said.

"what ever, we're here now. So lets get the party started" Alex said as she handed over 3 cases of 24 beer to Marco.

"here's the beer" she said And walked passed him, Marco nearly fell over from the weight of the beer.

"oh and here, we baked you some cookies" Charlie said putting a plate of cookies wrapped in plastic wrap on top of the beer. Now Marco really was going to fall over, that is until Dylan came to help him. He grabbed the beer and cookies from Marco before he fell over.

"thanks babe" Marco said

"no problem" he said back.

"oh Charlie, this is my boyfriend, Dylan, AKA Paige's brother. Dylan this is my friend and Alex's girlfriend, Charlie." Marco said introducing the two. Charlie looked Dylan over, he was cute. He had long curly hair, was tall and seemed to be built. She could see why Marco liked him.

"Nice to meet you" Charlie said kindly.

"you two" he said back. They walked into the cottage to see everyone, including Alex sitting in the living room on the couches.

"hey guys, you all remember Charlie right?" Marco said.

"yeah sure" some of them muttered.

"okay, Charlie just incase you don't remember everyone's name, this is Spinner, Ashley, Jimmy, Ellie, Craig and you know Paige" Marco said while pointing at everyone when he said their names.

"hey guys" Charlie said as she sat down beside Alex. Alex put her arm around Charlie as they got cozy. Once Dylan was finished with putting the beer in the fridge and had come back they all sat around together just casually talking.

"so what are we going to do tonight?" Spinner asked interested.

"well I was thinking we could start the weekend off with a big bonfire and roast some marshmallows and play a little game." Marco said smiling. A bunch of 'alrights' and 'cools' came from various people. Since it was now 8:00-ish it was getting dark outside so now was the perfect time to start the fire. The gang all headed out side and saw the sun setting along the lake and at the same time saw firewood already built up in the outdoor fire pit.

"who made this?" Ashley asked referring to the firewood.

"I did" Dylan said smiling. "I don't have to go to high school, so I came up here a few hours early to get everything ready"

"isn't he so sweet?" Marco said as he stepped closer to Dylan so he could put his arm around him.

"alright, enough lovey dovey stuff. Let's get this fire roaring" Ellie said as she tossed Marco some matches.

"Alright, but just to let you know, you might want to step back, I added something special to the fire" Marco said mysteriously. Everyone just kind of took one giant step back at the same time, just to be safe. Marco quickly lit a match and threw it somewhere in the direction of the fire pit and started to run quickly back to a safe spot. Before Marco could make it back the fire caught fire and a huge flame came out and swept over the entire fire pit. Everyone stood there in awe and fear of what Marco added to the fire.

"jesus Marco, what the hell did you put in the fire?" Alex asked jokingly.

"gasoline" Marco said smiling.

"how much?" Craig asked.

"a few gallons" Marco said staring at the fire as if he was entranced.

"oh my god, Marco, you could have killed us" Alex said with her arm around Charlie. After a few minutes the fire settle down a little and everyone was sitting around the fire pit holding a beer.

"So I think that I've got the perfect game for us tonight." Marco said as he pulled out another beer from a cooler.

"what game?" Craig asked.

"it's called I never. We all take turns saying something that we have never done before, and if you have done it you have to take a drink of beer" Marco said. Everyone kind of looked at him not really knowing how to react.

"oh come on, it's a great way to get funny secrets out and get drunk at the same time. Look I'll go first… I have never been so in love as I am now" Marco said staring at Dylan. Everyone kind of broke out in an 'aww'. Marco and Dylan both took a drink of their beer, and so did Alex and Charlie. It was cute.

"okay, Ashley you're next" Marco said looking at the girl sitting beside her.

"okay, I have never… gone skinny dipping" Ashley said. Everyone looked around to see if anyone was drinking. Only one person drank, Charlie. Everyone kind of started laughing, especially Alex.

"you? When?" Alex asked smiling at her girlfriend.

"last year, one of my ex's and I were just having a little fun and we got a little carried away" Charlie said trying to defend herself. Everybody just started laughing.

"okay Craig, you go next" Ashley said. 

"okay, umm, I have never seen Titanic" Craig said. All the girls and Marco and Dylan all gasped at the same time right before they all took a drink of beer. The only ones not to drink were Craig and Jimmy. Jimmy looked over at Spinner to see him sip his beer.

"spin, you've seen Titanic?" Jimmy asked surprise.

"it was one time…" Spinner said embarrassed. Everyone once again broke out laughing. Next was Ellie's turn.

"okay, let's see. Oh here is a good one, I have never slept with anybody in this group of people…" Ellie said as she looked around. The first people to drink were Marco and Dylan, then Spinner, then Paige, then Alex, then Charlie, then Ashley, and then Craig. Everyone was just surprised to see that Ashley and Craig drank.

"you two?" Ellie asked pointing to Craig and Ashley who were a little embarrassed.

"it was… a while ago" Craig started.

"just one time" Ashley added. But at this point Charlie wasn't really interested in Craig or Ashley, she saw Paige raise her drink as if she was toasting to Alex.

"you and Paige?" Charlie whispered to Alex in shock.

"it was when we were dating. It's no big deal." Alex said like she didn't care.

"no big deal? How could you say that, you didn't even tell me you slept with her?" Charlie said still whispering into Alex's ear very angry.

"you're just jealous because she got to me before you did" Alex said jokingly making her and Charlie smile.

"okay Charlie it's your turn" Ashley said trying to get the subject off of her and Craig.

"jealous huh?" Charlie said slyly now at normal voice. "okay, I've got a good one, I have never… been caught NAKED by another person's parents" Charlie said staring directly at Alex.

"oh you bitch" Alex said jokingly as she took a sip of beer. Everyone started laughing like crazy.

"when did this happen?" Marco asked intrigued.

"forget it" Alex said trying to hold back a smile.

"Fine, if you're not going to tell I will. Okay well it all happened when Alex stayed the night at my house and in the morning she took a shower and I told her she could borrow some of my clothes. But my mom didn't know she stayed over that night, so she walked into the room to see Alex standing there naked." Charlie said making everyone laugh including Alex.

"alright, alright, you had your laughs, it's my turn." Alex said as she tried to think of something to get Charlie back with.

"I have never been in a beauty pageant…" Alex said while smiling and staring at Charlie.

"oh you didn't!" Charlie yelled at Alex to she was had the biggest grin on her face.

"oh I did" Alex said as she pulled out a picture from her pocket to reveal a little girl with huge glasses, a huge dress, holding a bouquet of flowers and wearing a sash that said 'Little Miss Sunshine'. Alex quickly passed the picture around to everyone before Charlie could grab it. Everyone couldn't help but laugh their ass's off.

"drink up Barker" Alex said smiling at Charlie. Charlie was smiling yet angry, but in a joking way as she took a drink of her beer and finished the can.

"Little Miss Sunshine?" Jimmy asked as he held the picture in his hands.

"I was 5 years old and my mom entered me in this beauty pageant… okay?" Charlie said embarrassed. The picture made it's way back around the circle and surpassed Charlie so she couldn't destroy it. Alex took the picture back and put it back in her pocket. 2 cases of beer later and several 'I never' statements later everyone was basically drunk, but Charlie and Alex being the adventurous type they were, were much more drunk than everyone else.

"okay, well that was a fun game." Alex said as she finished off her can of beer and threw it in the fire.

"It was, but I'm dead, I'm going to sleep you guys." Marco said.

"yeah, I'm with him" Dylan said.

"we know you are…" Alex said jokingly, making everyone laugh a little. Eventually one by one they all went inside to go to bed and at the end of the night only two people were left outside; Charlie and Alex.

"that was low what you did with the picture" Charlie said lightly slapping Alex on the leg.

"hey you started it when you told everyone about your mom seeing me naked" Alex said defending her self. They both kind of sat there staring at the fire for a few minutes.

"so you really went skinny dipping?" Alex asked intrigued.

"yeah, it was a lot of fun too" Charlie said as she got up and sat down on Alex's lap. "well this fire is making me kind of sweaty, I'm gonna go rinse off quickly…" Charlie said as she looked at Alex.

"Charlie it's like 1:00am, and you want to go take a shower? You're going to wake everyone up." Alex said.

"who said anything about a shower" said Charlie as she got up and started heading down towards the dock. Charlie stood at the end of the dock and looked back and saw Alex still sitting by the fire. Alex couldn't really see Charlie's face or anything, but she could see the silhouette of her body in the moonlight and could see what she was doing. Charlie quickly pulled off all of her clothes and dove into the lake. Alex finally realizing what she was doing quickly ran down to the dock, pulled off all of her clothes and jumped in after Charlie. After a few minutes of splashing around and some laughs the girls finally settled down and were standing in front of one another still naked in the ater.

"I guess next time we play I never you're going to have to drink with me…" Charlie said putting her arms around Alex's neck as Alex put her arms around Charlie waist.

"I guess so." Alex said as she pulled Charlie in for a kiss. It was so peaceful at night, the moon was bright, the lake was calm and they were all alone, it was so romantic. Of course they were both very drunk, but it was still romantic.

"too bad we're not going to remember it. We're too drunk…" Charlie said making the two girls laugh. They both slowly got out of the water, neither of them could really see what they were doing because it was so dark but they managed to make their way back up near the fire so that they could put their clothes on. But before Charlie started getting dressed Alex grabbed her camera off of the table and took a Polaroid of Charlie with her hair wet and getting dressed at the same time.

"now we can remember" Alex said smiling.

"hey not fair!" Charlie said slurring her words slightly. She quickly grabbed the camera from Alex's hands and snapped a picture of Alex scantily clad before Alex could do anything.

"now it's fair. Oh and I'm keeping these. God only knows who you would show _these ones_ to." Charlie said snatching the picture from her hand. The girls got dressed and quickly went inside and fell asleep in each other's arms.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Hung over**

The next morning Charlie woke up in her bed alone, she was expecting Alex to be lying beside her but instead all she had was a splitting head ache.

"oohhhhhh" Charlie groaned as she sat up in her bed. "I'm never drinking that much again" she said to herself. She looked around the room to see where she was, there wasn't much in the room, just a bed, two bedside tables and a comfy chair beside the door. She looked over at the alarm clock on the table so see that it was 8:13 am.

"oohhhhhh" Charlie groaned again when she saw it was still early. She would have gone back to sleep if she hadn't seen the note.

_You can't go back to sleep now, I don't care how early it is. Get dressed and come out and have some breakfast._

_Love, Alex_

Charlie smiled at how well Alex knew her. Charlie followed what the note said, she got dressed, even though her head was killing her, and put on some sunglasses so no one could see how dead her eyes looked. She walked out of the bedroom fully dressed and into the kitchen to see Alex, Marco, Dylan, and Jimmy getting some food and coffee.

"good morning" Alex said in a cheery tone handing Charlie a cup of coffee.

"not so loud" Charlie said taking a sip of her hot drink. Everyone around her just kind of chuckled when they saw how hung over she was.

"how come you guys aren't so hung over?" Charlie asked quietly.

"uh, cause we didn't drink nearly as much as you and Alex did" Jimmy said laughing.

"well how come 'cheery' here isn't has hung over as I am?" Charlie asked Alex.

"I used to drink a lot. I'm use to it" Alex said as she handed Charlie a small bottle filled with Tylenol. "take a couple of these and you'll be fine." Charlie opened up the bottle and swallowed to pills. She looked around the room to see Spinner, Paige and Ellie all sleeping in the living room.

"what's with the girls? I thought they had their own room" Charlie asked.

"oh well, see last night, Ash and Craig got kind of close and kicked the girls out of their room." Jimmy said with a smile on his face. Everyone else just kind of laughed at the fact. Eventually one by one they all started to wake up, once everyone had their breakfast and coffee they all met in the living room.

"so what's this surprise you have for us today?" Alex asked Marco in front of everyone.

"okay, since we have this big area outside and none of our neighbours are up this weekend we are going PAINTBALLING!" Marco said as he jumped up. Everyone cheered as they were just as excited for paintballing as Marco. "so we're playing capture the flag, so we're going to split into two teams, each team hides a flag on their side of the area and the other team has to try and get the flag and bring it back to their side. But if you get hit you're out. Alright?" Everyone agreed.

"so what are the teams?" Ellie asked.

"how about homo against hetero?" Marco asked smiling.

"haha, then the teams are uneven" Alex said.

"I'll play for the other team" Ellie suggested. "pardon the pun" she added as they all burst out laughing. Alright, the girls will get dressed in Alex and Charlie's room and the guys will get dressed in our room" Marco said as he looked at Dylan. "umm, okay so wear something that you aren't afraid to get paint on, and layer up, and oh yeah… hetero team gets blue bandanas and homo team gets red." Marco said as he handed out the bandanas to everyone.

"okay" everyone said together. They all got up and went to go change.

"this is going to be awesome" Ellie said as she started to change.

"yeah, for us" Ashley said as she pointed her and Paige. "cause you guys are going down" she added playfully.

"bring it on" Charlie said jokingly back at them. Everyone kind of laughed and went to their own part of the room to change. Paige went to wear Charlie and Alex threw their clothes from last night and saw something poking out of Charlie's jeans. She bent down and grabbed a couple of pictures from last night to see that each picture had a naked girl in it.

"oh my god!" Paige said laughing. Everyone looked over to see what she was holding, but Alex and Charlie were the only one who knew what they were.

"Paige, don't!" Alex shouted out as she tried to grab the picture from her but couldn't. Instead she quickly showed Ellie and Ashley who were just shocked.

"looks like you guys had a fun night" Ashley said giggling with Ellie.

"uh, look who's talking 'miss-i-slept-with-Craig-last-night" Alex said.

Instead of Paige giving the pictures back she just ran outside to show the guys. Alex and Charlie just stood there in embarrassment when they heard 'oh my gods' coming from the other room. Once the girls were done dressing they all met out in the living room just to see Paige showing all of the guys the pictures.

"Paige! I am going to kill you!" Alex said in a serious tone as she jumped over the couch and started to Chase Paige. Marco grabbed the pictures from Paige's hand and handed them to Alex and stopped her from killing Paige.

"okay stop! Let's just play this game" Marco said.

"Paige, you are dead!" Alex said in a threatening way.

"is it too late to change teams?" Ashley asked in a joking way when she saw the look on Alex's face. Everyone laughed a little, except for Alex, Charlie and Paige.

While outside the two teams separated for a few minutes so that they could hide their flag.

"alright, the flag is up in the tree" Dylan said as the homo team all huddled together.

"okay, this game is no longer to win, our goal is to get Paige back, after we're done that we can win. Okay?" Alex said.

"okay" the team said they all put their hands on top of each others.

"homo on 3" Charlie said smiling. "1,2,3…"

"HOMO!" They all shouted and laughed as they walked away. Within minutes the game had started, the front of the cottage area was for the homo team and the back was for the hetero team. But the homo team had an advantage, they had Marco, and Marco knew where everything was and how everything worked.

"okay, since I know this cottage best, me and Dylan are going to go on the roof and see if we can hit anyone, we'll let you know where Paige is so you guys can take care of her. We'll cover you, and while Charlie and Alex are getting Paige, Ellie you go see if you can grab the flag. Okay?" Marco said.

"sounds good to me" Ellie said as they all broke off. Dylan and Marco climbed onto the roof, and layed down so that no one could see them, let alone hit them.

"okay, Paige is up hiding in the trees at the top of the hill at your 10:00." Dylan said to Charlie and Alex. Charlie and Alex nodded as they went around the left side of the cottage to sneak up on her, but they had a plan of their own. Alex started walking around the side of the cottage while Charlie broke off to go behind another cottage. Alex knew that she wouldn't be able to sneak up on Paige from where she was because their was a lot of open area in front of Paige. So instead Alex quickly ran up to Paige. Paige reacted quickly and shot a single shot at Alex which hit her dead in the leg. Alex looked down at the paint and then back up at Paige.

"nice try" Paige said smiling like she just foiled Alex's plan. Then Alex started shooting Paige like crazy. Paige started screaming, and Alex stopped.

"what the hell?!" she said pissed off "you know that doesn't count right?" Paige said like a smart ass.

"I know… but that was for showing everyone the pictures. But that's beside the point. So these may not count…" Alex said smiling.

"but this does" Charlie said jumping out from behind Paige and shooting her. Paige once again started screaming like crazy. Alex and Charlie high fived each other knowing that they both got their shots at Paige. Soon Jimmy, Spinner, Ashley and Craig all came running and shooting at Charlie. They also wanted to see what happened to Paige. They all saw that Paige was covered in paintballs, but so was Charlie and Alex. Looked like your plan failed Craig said as he leaned on Spinner, like they were better than them or something.

"Think again" Charlie said smiling. Just then several paintballs came flying out of no where, well not exactly no where. More like from the roof. Each person from the hetero team got hit and they were all out. At the same time Ellie ran to the tree line and grabbed the flag and started running back down to her side.

"suckers!" she shouted out as she waved the flag in the air. Alex and Charlie both looked ecstatic as they saw Marco and Dylan high five on the roof and Ellie run back to their side of the cottage.

"looks like we win" Alex said as she put her arm around Charlie's waist and started walking back down to their team mates.

"what just happened?" Ashley asked in shock.

"we were beat by team homo" Jimmy said still in awe. They all looked down at the other team to see them jumping up and down in joy.

"go team homo!" Ellie shouted.

"we're never going to live this down, you know…" Spinner said still looking at the other time.

"nope" Paige said crossing her arms.

Since the paintball game took all of 30 minutes the gang split up to do their own things. Some, like Spinner, Craig, Ellie, and Paige went tubing in the boat, Ashley, Jimmy, Marco and Dylan stayed inside to watch a movie and of course Charlie and Alex were off doing their own thing somewhere else. They decided to go for a little walk down a random pathway.

"I can't believe the look on her face" Charlie said jumping up and down beside Alex.

"I know, she was so shocked, it was awesome" Alex replied. After walking for a few minutes the two girls found their way to an old little park. It had swings, a teeter totter and a manual merry go round. They were surprised that all of this was here, but they didn't care. Charlie and Alex walked over to the merry go round and Charlie looked excited.

"jump on" Alex said smiling, and Charlie did so. Alex started pushing the bars around and around until she was spinning so fast they couldn't go any faster. Soon Alex jumped on and tried to walk over to Charlie. Unfortunately the merry go round was spinning so fast that Alex couldn't walk straight, she quickly sat down. Charlie laughed a little and walked over and sat down beside her.

"okay, I'm feeling a little sick…" Alex said clutching her stomach.

"remind me never to take you to an amusement park" Charlie said getting closer to Alex.

The contraption was starting to slow down, but still moving. Charlie leaned over and kissed Alex on the lips. Slowly but surely the merry go round slowed down and was nearly stopped and Charlie and Alex were still kissing.

"feeling better?" Charlie asked slyly while breaking the kiss.

"much…" Alex said going back in for another kiss. The ride had completely stopped now and so had their kiss. Eventually the two girls just sat there. Charlie sat in front of Alex while Alex put her arms around her. They were just sitting there watching the sun go down.

"This is what I love about you and me…" Charlie said softly. But Alex didn't fully understand.

"what do you mean?" Alex asked

"we can just sit… and enjoy the moment. I could never do that with all my other girlfriends, they just had to do something with me. But you, you and I can just sit here and enjoy each other. It's just an amazing feeling." Charlie said kissing her girlfriend on the cheek and going back to watching the sunset. The sunset was beautiful, almost like a rainbow, it had so many different colours in it, but it was amazing. Just like Charlie. Alex felt so lucky to have found a girl like her. She couldn't find one thing she didn't like about her, if there was something, it just made her like her more. She didn't know how or why, but it just did. Alex pulled her camera out of her pocked at quickly snapped a photo of the two sitting together.

"I love you" Alex whispered into Charlie's ear softly. It sent chills down Charlie's body, at this moment, these girls were on top of the world.

"I love you too" Charlie whispered back. After the sun had finally set Alex and Charlie started to walk back to Marco's cottage. All the way home they were giggling and kissing, and even a little poking. But they had to be the cutest couple ever. They walked back into the cottage to see everyone sitting in the living room again.

"hey what's going on guys?" Charlie asked as she saw that everyone had a serious face. Everyone except for Paige.

"what's wrong?" Alex asked everyone while standing next to Charlie.

"Charlie! I've missed you so much!" A loud girl said coming out from around the corner. She pulled Charlie into a tight hug and then kissed her quickly on the lips. So quick that Charlie didn't even have time to pull back or push her away. She just stood their with her lips still in the kissing position, still in shock.

"Charlie, is there something you want to tell me?" Alex said half jokingly half serious.

"uhhh…" was all Charlie could get out.

"oh I'm sorry, I'm Jackie, Charlie's girlfriend" Jackie said in an all too perky way. She grabbed Alex's hand and started to shake it furiously. Alex didn't actually move her hand, she was still in shock from Jackie's words, girlfriend.

Charlie finally managed to snap back to reality.

"EX-girlfriend" Charlie said pointing one finger up in the air.

"tomatoe-tomatow" Jackie said.

"Jackie, what the hell are you doing here?" Charlie asked furiously.

"I was invited…" she said turning down the perkiness.

"invited? By who?" Charlie asked looking around at everyone in the room. No one was making eye contact, no one except for Paige.

"Paige?!" Charlie yelled out in complete anger.

"you know, I think I'm going to go outside and enjoy the evening air. Anyone else want to join?" Spinner said as he realized the tension in the room.

"yeah I'm in…" Everyone slowly said as they got up and walked out of the room. The only people left were Charlie, Alex, Paige and Jackie. But Alex couldn't deal with all of this drama so she left soon after everyone else did.

"Alex wait…" Charlie called out but Alex didn't wait. In fact she just kept walking away. Charlie turned around to see Paige and Jackie sitting beside each other on the couch.

"why? Why Paige? Why would you invite my ex-girlfriend?" Charlie yelled as she paced back and forth.

"sorry hun, I just thought that since you didn't really know a lot of people, that you might want one familiar face around. Sorry for trying to help…" Paige said.

"help? HELP!? Are you kidding me?" Charlie yelled out.

"baby, calm down. I'm here now, I can help, and plus we have full access to a lake. And you know what that means" Jackie said putting her hands on Charlie's waist.

"Jackie. Paige. Both of you stay the hell away from me. I have a new girlfriend and neither of you two bitches could ever replace her." Charlie said as she walked out of the cottage to go find Alex. She walked over to the gang who was sitting around a couple of picnic tables just talking. But when they saw Charlie come outside they didn't even say a word. They just pointed down to the dock to find a lonely Alex sitting on the end of the dock alone. Charlie started to slowly walk down to the dock to talk to Alex.

"Alex…" Charlie started.

"shouldn't you be talking to your girlfriend?" Alex asked smugly.

"I am…" Charlie replied.

"oh really? Then who's the girl that kissed you back in the cottage, cause she didn't seem like a friend to me" Alex said just looking down at her feet in the water.

"it's not my fault. Back at my old school we dated a little bit, it started getting serious but in the end it just wasn't right so I broke it off. Apparently she didn't take it too well."

"was she the girl you went skinny dipping with?" Alex asked.

"yeah, but that was a long time ago" Charlie added in her defense.

"I don't get it, why is she here now?" Alex asked trying to clear a few things up.

"Paige invited her this weekend." Charlie said.

"Paige invited her?" Alex said in an angry tone.

"yeah, she claimed she wanted me to know at least one other person here… why?" Charlie asked.

"I can't stand this girl anymore, I am going to finish this once and for all." Alex said as she quickly stood up and stomped up towards the cottage.

"Paige! Get out here right now!" Alex said yelling so that everyone within a mile could hear her. Charlie ran up beside Alex trying to calm her down.

"Alex, she's not worth it" Charlie said chasing after her.

"no she isn't but I want this to end. I need this to end" Alex said clenching her fists as she saw the devil walk outside with Jackie following close behind.

"what is it?" Paige asked in a stuck up way.

"dude, 10 bucks on Paige" Spinner said to Jimmy who was beside him.

"against Alex? You're on!" he said as shook his hand.

"I am sick and tired of you trying to screw up my relationship with Charlie." Alex said.

"screw it up? Honey, your relationship was a freak show from the start. I mean just look at you. You and your whore of a girlfriend" Paige said just making Alex more furious.

"whore?" Charlie asked from the side.

"yeah you heard me." Paige said putting her hands on her hips.

"slut" Charlie said back

"bitch" said Paige

"skank"

"hoe"

"hoe-bag!" Charlie yelled back.

"hoe-bag?" Alex whispered to Charlie.

"shut up" Charlie whispered back. She was still caught up in their little verbal fight

"well at least Alex found a girlfriend as dumb as her" Paige said chuckling in front of everyone. Everyone just took a step back.

Alex started walking towards Paige as she was about to hit her but instead Charlie came off from the side and punched Paige in the nose knocking her to the floor. Charlie sat down on top of Paige and just kept fighting with her, eventually Paige and Charlie were rolling around on the ground pulling hair, and scratching each other like there was no tomorrow. Everyone stood there in awe not knowing how to handle this.

"Alright, that's enough!" Dylan yelled as he pushed the two girls apart. "You two will stay away from each other for the rest of the weekend or so help me God I will drive one of you home myself!" he said. The two girls started to walk away from each other, Charlie started to walk towards Alex to talk to her again. But then out of no where Paige started running back at Charlie. This is when Alex stepped in, before Paige could even touch Charlie she punched her in the nose, knocking her to the floor… again.

"Alright Dylan, I believe we had a deal" Alex said stepping in front of Charlie to protect her. Paige was lying on the ground in pain, her nose was already starting to bruise and her lip was bleeding slightly from when Charlie scratched her.

"well I wasn't actually serious, I didn't think any of you would attempt anything again" Dylan said not knowing what to do. Just then Spinner slipped Jimmy a folded up 10 dollar bill.

"okay, well seeing as I don't want to drive all the way back to Toronto Paige, you will stay away from Alex and Charlie, and same goes for you guys. Okay?" Dylan asked.

"fine" they all said at once.

After the fight, Charlie and Alex went to go sit down at one of the picnic tables. "you know you didn't have to punch Paige for me" Alex started while examining the scratch on Charlie's cheek.

"I could say the same about you" Charlie said as she grabbed Alex's hand and held it in her own.

"why is there so much drama in our lives?" Charlie asked softly.

"we're lesbians, what do you expect?" Alex said making Charlie crack a smile.

"who knew being lesbians meant so many cat fights?" said Charlie

"I did, that's one of the reasons I turned. Man you looked hot when you were fighting" Alex said jokingly.

"oh and what about you, when your fist was flying through the air, I thought I was going to turn to jello." Charlie also said jokingly. "But then again, I turn to jello anytime I look at you…" Alex just smiled at the comment, fight or no fight, none of this was Charlie's fault and she knew it. She leaned in close to Charlie face and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to flip out on you, it wasn't your fault" Alex said.

"it's alright, sorry I have a psycho ex girlfriend." Charlie said.

"It's alright, I have one of those too" Alex said laughing. By this time it was dark outside and everyone was tired from all the drama going on today. Jackie and Paige had spent the remainder of the day together and away from Charlie and Alex like they agreed. Actually they hadn't been spotted all night, everyone knew they went somewhere else to take a break from everything.

"so what are we doing tonight?" Spinner asked Marco as they all sat down together in the living room.

"we're not playing I never. Too many embarrassing secrets revealed about me" Alex said with Charlie on her lap.

"alright, well we still have one more case of beer left, so why don't we spend our last night doing what we came here to do?"

"what?" Craig asked.

"party!" Marco said as he turned up the stereo and started to get up and dance. After about an hour, Charlie and Alex decided to take a break from dancing with everyone and just watch. Of course Spinner and Marco broke out into a dance off and everyone was around watching. Alex and Charlie couldn't help but laugh at spinner. It was hard not too… he thought he was this amazing dancer but he just sucked out loud. But no one had the heart to tell him.

"you know, this has been a fun weekend" Charlie said to her girlfriend.

"yeah, minus Paige and Jackie… it has been fun" Alex said back.

"okay so Charlie you have to tell me where you got your sunglasses, I love them" Ashley said as she sat down beside Charlie.

"yeah sure, call me up sometime and we can go shopping or something" Charlie said smiling. Ashley got back up to go and dance again.

"looks like you made some new friends too" Alex added.

"yeah… what can I say, I'm Little Miss Popular"

"that may be, but to me you'll always be Little Miss Sunshine." Alex said as she lightly kissed Charlie.

The next morning, Alex and Charlie woke up with a smaller hang over than the previous morning. Alex was the first to wake up and just waited for Charlie to arise from her deep slumber.

"good morning" Alex said as she saw Charlie eyes flutter open.

"mmm, good morning to you too" Charlie said as she kissed Alex on the lips. "what time is it?" Charlie asked a little more awake.

"uhh time for you to brush your teeth" Alex said as she caught a whiff of Charlie's breath.

"oh sorry. Morning breath." Charlie said as she got up and went into the bathroom connected to their room to brush her teeth. "so where did Paige and Jackie go last night?" Charlie asked with a toothbrush in her mouth.

"beats me, we crashed before the came in last night" Alex said picking at the linens on the bed. Charlie quickly finished brushing her teeth and started the shower.

"hey do you want to use the bathroom before I take a shower?" Charlie asked.

"um yeah sure" Alex said as she walked into the bathroom and started getting undressed.

"uh, what do you think you're doing?" Charlie asked as she smiled at the sight of her almost naked girlfriend.

"taking a shower… care to join me?" Alex asked as she was now fully undressed and stepping into the shower.

"don't mind if I do" Charlie said as she stripped and stepped into the shower with Alex. Twenty minutes and a few giggles later Alex and Charlie stepped out of the shower and both got dressed.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: Still time for another surprise**

After Charlie and Alex finished getting dressed they packed up because they knew that today, Sunday, would be their last day at Marco's cottage. They walked out of their room with their bags in hand to see everyone slowly waking up and getting ready to leave as well. Marco and Dylan were sitting on the couch with Dylan's arm around Marco, just sipping some coffee. Ashley, Ellie, Craig and Jimmy were all getting packed to leave for their drive home. But no one could find Paige, Jackie or Spinner.

"hey guys, where's tweedle-dumb and tweedle-whore?" Alex asked no one in particular.

Just then Spinner ran into the cottage with a huge grin on his face but almost out of breath. "you guys have to see this!" Spinner said as he jolted out of the cottage to the front lawn. Everyone got up in interest of wanting to see what Spinner was so worked up about. As a group everyone walked outside and looked at what Spinner was looking at.

"oh my god" Charlie said in shock. Alex wasn't that surprised in fact she was just laughing at the sight that had Spinner so excited. There in front of everyone's eyes were two girls hanging over the picnic table, under a small blanket that barely covered their naked bodies. And just to add to the scene they were surrounded by beer cans as far as the eye could see.

"looks like someone had a wild night" Craig said kicking a beer can away from his foot. Alex just pulled out her camera from her pocket and snapped a picture of the two girls.

"I think my eyes are on fire!" Dylan said as he caught a glance of his sister.

"sorry Charlie, looks like your drinking record was shattered last night" Ashley said making everyone giggle a little bit. Alex still had a huge grin on her face. She knew that if Paige ever did anything to her again, she could use this against her. It was perfect.

"okay, so how are we going to wake them?" Jimmy asked as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of someone's answer.

"well I still have my air horn from the slo pitch tournament down in London" Charlie said offering.

"perfect!" Spinner said pointing to Charlie.

"I'll go get it" Charlie said as she jogged back into the cottage.

"guys are you sure this is the right?" Marco asked everyone. As much as Spinner wanted to have fun and Alex wanted her revenge he still thought that Paige was his friend and it was a little mean to do this to her.

"yeah, I'm already pretty blind from seeing my sister like this" Dylan said looking away from Paige and Jackie. A minute later Charlie came back outside with a small aerosol can in her hand.

"okay let's stop and think about this before we-" Marco started but was cut off by a loud sound from the air horn. Alex had taken the can from Charlie's hand and started to blow it. There was no way in hell Alex would pass up an opportunity to embarrass Paige like this. As soon as the two girls heard the loud noise they quickly jolted up realizing everyone was staring at them. They grabbed the small blanket that barely covered them as it was and tried to conceal their nude bodies. As soon as they realized where they were and what the situation was they both grabbed their heads in anticipation of the head aches they were about to receive from their insane amount of drinking last night.

"oh my god…" Jackie said as she pulled the hair out of her face. Alex took another picture, and laughed.

Marco shot Alex a deadly stare for taking the pictures. But she just shrugged her shoulders. "what happened to you two last night?" Marco asked.

"…um, well after the fight, we kind of went off on our own with what ever beer we could get…" Paige started as she tried to get up from the picnic table but slipped as she stepped on another beer can.

"… some how we ended up back here and we just… you know…" Jackie said as she looked at Paige and then back at the rest of the group.

"oh we know…" Charlie said leaning into Alex. An hour later Paige and Jackie had started to get over their hang over and were sitting alone in the living room. Everyone else was outside packing their bags away in their car. Everyone except Alex and Charlie who decided to check up on Jackie and Paige.

"so it looks like you two had a good time last night…" Charlie said as she sat across from the two on another couch.

"yeah something like that" Jackie said leaning forward in her seat. Just then Alex walked into the room and saw who Charlie was talking to. As a joke she went and sat down on Charlie.

"hey, this is even better than the couch" Alex said putting her arm around Charlie.

"that's just cause you're sitting on _my_ lap" Charlie said putting her arm around Alex's body.

"that too" Alex said smiling, but she looked over at Jackie and Paige and her smile grew even bigger. "so it looks like you two had a good time last night…"

"do you two like write a script for the day or something? Charlie said the exact same thing like two seconds ago" Paige said.

"I read minds… shhhh…" Alex said as a joke. "so what is happening with you two anyways?" she asked in a more serious tone.

"umm, well we've been talking and… we're going to try it. Nothing too serious but…" Jackie started, but Paige decided to finish it.

"we're just trying, next year we'll be away in college and we found out that our colleges are only like an hour apart so its not too bad."

"so you're actually gonna start… _dating?_" Charlie asked as she pointed at them.

"yeah…" they said together.

"at least now you don't have to worry about your first time anymore" Alex said as a joke which she was the only to laugh at. "I guess its too early to make jokes." Alex said as she could feel the tension in the room. Her ex was now dating her girlfriend's ex, both of which she and Charlie hated. Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways. Soon the four girls were quiet and it was once again awkward. On one couch was Paige and Jackie, Jackie had her arm around Paige and they were both looking at Charlie and Alex, who were on the other couch, and Alex had her arm around Charlie. Charlie was about to say something when Craig walked into the room.

"alright the car's ready, who coming?" he asked looking around at the four girls.

"I've got my car" Charlie said.

"I came up with Charlie and I'm going home that way" Alex said smiling.

"I came up in my own car too" Jackie said.

"and I'm hitching with Jackie" Paige said.

"alright, no takers then. Okay well we're all gonna head out now then" Craig said as he walked back out the door. The four girls got up and walked outside to say their goodbyes. After lots of hugs and a few short conversations everyone was on the road. The only people left were Charlie, Alex, Paige and Jackie.

"so I guess that's it" Jackie said.

"I guess so" Charlie said.

"well we better get going" Alex said. Everyone knew that there was a very awkward moment, but didn't really know what to say to break it. So they all just went their separate ways.

During the ride home all Charlie and Alex could talk about were Jackie and Paige.

"so do you think they're going to last?" Charlie asked trying not to take her eyes off the road.

"who?" Alex asked pretending not to know who she was talking about. But she did, she just didn't want to talk about _them_.

"you know who…" Charlie said.

"I don't know, maybe… I mean they both have something in common."

"what?"

"us" Alex said simply.

"true" Charlie said smiling at the thought.

"but they'll never be as great as us" Alex said putting her hand on Charlie thigh.

"mmm? And why is that?" Charlie asked in a sexy voice.

"because all they will do is have crazy, wild, animal sex, but us. We have something better. Love" Alex said as if it was like a corny joke from a movie.

"awww." Charlie said sweetly. "but you know… they're not the only ones who can have crazy, wild, animal sex" Charlie said winking at Alex. Alex froze at what Charlie said, she didn't know how to react to it, but of course they both knew it was a joke… sort of.

"you're lucky we're in a car" Alex said trying to resist kissing Charlie. She would love to kiss her right there and then but she knew that Charlie wouldn't be able to control her self. Alex was actually pretty proud of it.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: I love the way…**

Charlie and Alex pulled into the parking lot of Alex's apartment "do you want to come in?" Alex asked smirking.

"I know what you're thinking, and no. You and I had a whole weekend together, I need to see my parents sometime. I haven't seen them in a couple of days now, plus they said they wanted to talk to me about something" Charlie said.

"good talk or bad talk?" Alex asked

"when is a talk with your parents ever good?" Charlie said.

"Point taken. Alright, bye, Barker" Alex said kissing her girlfriend and walking away. But before Charlie drove off she remembered something.

"hey Nunez, do you want to have dinner with me and my parents tomorrow?"

"dinner with the parents? Does that mean we're serious now?" Alex asked leaning on the car door.

"I guess so…" Charlie said.

"alright just checking, what time tomorrow?"

"7:00pm, don't be late"

"wouldn't dream of it" Alex said as she walked away. And with that Charlie drove home.

Charlie walked into her house "mom, dad, I'm home" she said dropping her bags in the doorway and walking around to find them. She walked into the kitchen to see her parents sitting at the table.

"hey, there you guys are." She started until she saw the looks on her parent's faces. "what's going on?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie we need to talk" her father said unemotionally.

"oh before we do, Alex said that she could come to dinner tomorrow" Charlie said gleefully.

"oh that's great honey, but there is something we have to tell you…" her mother said with sadness in her voice. Charlie knew that this would be one of those bad talks.

"oh my god, did grandma die?" Charlie asked concerned.

"no, honey, grandma's fine. But there is something else…" Mrs. Barker said.

…

The following night Alex showed up at Charlie house at exactly 7:00pm, she wasn't taking any chances tonight. The doorbell rang and Charlie went to open the door.

"flowers for milady" Alex said holding out a small bouquet of flowers.

"aww that's so sweet" Charlie said grabbing the flowers from her hand, Charlie didn't seem all that happy though. Alex stepped in the familiar house and started to take off her coat. Charlie took Alex's coat just as Mr. and Mrs. Barker walked up.

"Alex, hi, it's nice to finally meet you" Mr. Barker said, he was in a suit, but more of a casual suit, if it's possible.

"you too" Alex said.

"so why don't we go and eat?" Mrs. Barker suggested. Everyone sat down around the table. Mr. and Mrs. Barker sat on either side of the dinner table and Charlie and Alex sat beside each other.

"so Alex how long have you two been going out?" Mr. Barker asked.

"Charlie hasn't told you?" Alex asked

"well I spend a lot of time at work so I don't always get the opportunity to talk to Charlie about everything." He said not too proud of himself.

"oh okay, well we've been going out for about 3 months now" Alex said smiling and looking over at Charlie to make sure she was right, Charlie just nodded in agreement. Charlie was acting a little weird, she wasn't really making eye contact with Alex and when she smiled it just seemed like she wanted to be happy but couldn't be, something was bothering her.

"so has Charlie told you the news yet?" Mrs. Barker asked Alex.

"news? What news?" Alex asked looking at Charlie, they were holding hands under the table but Charlie's parents couldn't see.

"mom, not now" Charlie muttered angrily.

"oh come on honey, it's good news"

"what?" Alex said trying to look at Charlie, who just looked sad.

"Mr. Barker here got a promotion" Mrs. Barker said smiling.

"that's great, congratulations Mr. Barker" Alex said happily, but she couldn't understand why Charlie was so sad. "it's good news babe, why are you so sad?"

Mr. Barker saw that Charlie couldn't say anything so he decided to speak for her "the promotion is in Chicago…" he said.

"Chicago?" Alex asked confused.

"we're moving…" Charlie said with tears in her eyes. Alex took her hand back from Charlie's.

"excuse me… I… I forgot I have something to do at home…" Alex said making an excuse as she got up and walked out their front door.

"Alex stop…" Charlie said as she got up to follow Alex but she was already gone.

Alex was halfway home when she realized that she left her coat at Charlie's but at this point she didn't care. The girl she loved was moving, it was like the whole world was routing for this relationship to fail, and it was going to. Alex didn't go home right away though, she knew that Charlie would come looking for her there first, so she had to go somewhere a little less obvious, so she walked for a little bit until she got downtown and hopped in a cab. Some time later, Alex got out of the car and paid cab driver. She walked for a minute until she got to where she wanted; she just sat down and hugged her knees, and looked up into the sky to see hundreds of bright stars shining back down at her. Alex shivered a little, she wouldn't be so cold if she had her coat, she'd have her coat if she hadn't left Charlie's, and she wouldn't have left Charlie's if she didn't find out that Charlie was moving. Alex was thinking too much.

"you're too predictable…" a familiar voice said. Alex didn't even bother to turn around, she knew who it was.

"is that so?" Alex asked holding back her tears and fidgeting with her hands.

"yeah, I knew you wouldn't go home" Charlie said sitting beside Alex and handing her her coat. Alex took the coat from her hands and put it on. She would have just been stubborn and ignored Charlie but she was cold.

"when did you find out?" Alex asked.

"after I got home from the tournament" Charlie said

"why didn't you just tell me?"

"cause I didn't want to leave you" Charlie said putting her hand on Alex's arm.

"when are you leaving?" Alex asked.

"we have a couple weeks to get down to Chicago."

"2 weeks!?" Alex yelled out. "you're going to finish your senior year in like a month, you can't wait? Wait, what about college, didn't you apply to the university of Toronto?"

"yeah, but my parents made me fill out applications for other schools as a safety thing. One of them just happens to be in Chicago."

"…but what about… us?" Alex asked quietly, still not crying quite yet.

"I don't know…" Charlie replied she saw the emotion of Alex's face and it made her want to cry. "Alex you know I love you, I love the way you kiss me after everything you say, I love the way you hold my hand under the table, I love how we can have water fights anytime and I especially love the way you protect me from whore's who hit on me" Charlie said cracking a smile.

Alex was kind of caught up in the moment "I love that you're so hot other girls hit on you even though they know you're dating me, I love the way you pull your connections and get me Aerosmith for my birthday, I love the way our movie nights turn into an adult film, I just love how much I love you… but apparently it's not enough." Alex said uncontrollably.

Charlie's eyes just lit up in surprise "it is enough, it's plenty, it's just they're my parents, they're making me move. If I could do something about it I would, but I can't."

Alex didn't say anything, she couldn't, how was she supposed to tell her girlfriend, that she loved, that she didn't want her to move. She had become so close with Charlie, she was more than just her girlfriend, she had become her best friend. Charlie knew her better than she knew her self, like she knew that Alex would be here, instead of at home. Alex knew she couldn't just let that go, but things right now weren't great between them.

"Charlie…" Alex started


	25. Chapter 25

**ALRIGHT GUYS, THIS IS IT, THE FINAL CHAPTER! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED READING IT AND I'M THINKING OF DOING A SEQUEL LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. LEAVE THE LOVE! **

**Chapter 25: It's never too late**

Charlie and Alex were back at school the next day. Alex of course was sitting on the steps outside of Degrassi. Charlie pulled up in her car, got out and walked towards Alex. Alex stood up just to watch Charlie walk by her, she didn't know what to do, should she chase after her or just let her go? Instead the bell rang and Alex just went to class. In class all Alex could think about was what happened the night before…

_Flashback_

"move in with me…" Alex said staring into Charlie's eyes. Charlie just sat there, frozen with fear. She didn't know what to say, she loved Alex, but she couldn't move in with her, what about her family? She couldn't just leave them.

"uhhh" was all Charlie could say. Alex saw the expression on her face and got up and walked away. She felt crushed, it was as if Charlie told her she didn't love her just by the look on her face. She started heading home when Charlie ran up beside her.

"Alex!" she shouted turning Alex to face her.

"I saw the expression on your face, forget that I even asked. Just go to Chicago and I hope you have a great life" Alex said rudely and tried to walk away, but Charlie pulled her back. Both Charlie and Alex were crying but Charlie was crying harder.

"Alex, come on. I can't just move in with you, I can't leave my parents." Charlie started.

"oh but you can just leave me?" Alex said continuing to walk quickly.

"Alex, it's not like that. My dad, he's making me go with him, he's making me go to the university in Chicago. I don't want to leave. I want to stay here with you more than anything else. I love you so much! But I just can't. Even if I could, I've seen your place, it's a good size for you and your mom, but not for three people. It just won't work."

"we can make it work!" Alex said crying hysterically now. Charlie stopped walking when Alex stopped walking.

"fine come to university with me in Toronto, we can get our own apartment down in the city or something, anything…" Alex said trying to convince Charlie.

"Alex, it's not that easy…" Charlie said she couldn't even imagine how hard this was for Alex.

"no, it is. You're just choosing to make everything difficult!" Alex yelled and walked off. Charlie just stood there tired of following Alex. Charlie was just unsure of everything right now. Unsure of how their relationship would be tomorrow, or in a month, or in a year, she was just unsure.

_End of Flashback_

Later that Day…

Charlie had math class like usual and was bored as hell considering all they actually did in math, was math. Who would have guessed but Charlie was just kind of lost in her thoughts that was until she saw a folded piece of paper land on her desk as Paige walked by. She looked up and saw Paige ask to go to the bathroom and then walk out of the class. Charlie opened the note

_meet me in the girls bathroom_

Charlie had had some bad experiences with Paige but was bored, and thought maybe this might be interesting. A few minutes later Charlie walked into the girls bathroom subtly.

"Paige?" Charlie whispered.

"we're the only ones in here hun, you don't have to whisper" Paige said while leaning against the wall on the other side of the bathroom.

"so what do you want?" Charlie asked.

"I want to talk" she said

"about?"

"you and Alex…" Paige said

"Paige, we've talked about this, I'm with Alex and I'm not going to date you" Charlie said like she knew everything

"from what I've heard you're not exactly with Alex anymore" Paige said in a cocky tone.

"that's none of your business" Charlie said starting to get pissed.

"Charlie, look I know your moving…" Paige started but saw the confused look on Charlie's face. "…Marco told me" Paige added.

"so what's your point? I'm moving, no big, I move like every year." Charlie said like she didn't care, but deep down she felt so sad and depressed.

"hun come on, I've learned to read lies" Paige said.

"what do you want Paige?" Charlie asked sternly again, she didn't want to talk about her lying about her feelings.

"look, I know this can't be easy for you leaving your girlfriend and all but you can't just do this to Alex. She loves you." Paige said caringly.

"I know, I love her too, but I can't control what my parents do or what they decide, it doesn't work like that" Charlie said as she slowly started to open up to Paige.

"just talk to them, they might understand…"

"Paige, aside from all of this drama and what not, why are you being so nice to me? Did you forget about last weekend?" Charlie asked.

"no I didn't forget, but I'm in my own relationship now, I no longer feel the need to steal my ex-girlfriend's girlfriend." Paige said

"is that all it took? Why didn't you tell me that before, I would have set you up on like 10 dates" Charlie said

"okay that's not the point, you need to talk to Alex and sort this out, maybe you guys can work out a deal or something. Don't tell Alex this but I still love her… not in a romantic way, don't worry… but I used to date her, I know her just as well as you know her. And right now I know that she is in love with a girl who is leaving her. She can't deal with that sort of stuff, she's not a problem solver, she's more of a problem thinker." Paige said sincerely.

"I know… I know… but I can't deal with this either" Charlie said quietly as she walked out of the girls bathroom. Paige had tried to help her which was nice, but it didn't really do anything. Charlie was back where she started.

A couple of days after Charlie and Paige's rendez-vous in the bathroom Alex found something in her locker. She was originally getting some books for class but when she opened the squeaky door a piece of paper fell out with a note. Alex opened the note and read

_I'm sorry_

_-Paige_

Alex put the note down on her shelf and looked at the other piece of paper, it was a page from today's newspaper. Alex looked it over again and again just to double check what it was. Just when she finally fathomed what Paige was doing she saw her in the hallways. Alex grabbed the papers and closed her locker.

"Paige!" Alex yelled out to Paige who was walking with Marco and Hazel at the time. She said goodbye and walked over to Alex.

"hi" Paige said quietly.

"what is this?" Alex asked holding the papers up.

"listen, I just thought that this could help a little, I know we've had some problems lately, and I was just trying to redeem myself." Paige said not making eye contact with Alex, she was still scared, after all she had been punched by this same girl only a few days before.

Alex was speechless for a moment, she looked angry though. She kept trying to get words out of her mouth but nothing was working. Alex finally gave up and was about to walk away when she was finally able to get something out.

"thank you" Alex said and walked away. After all that, Paige thought she was going to get an ear full from Alex for budding into her life but instead she got a thank you. Paige may have been a bitch before but she really did redeem herself.

For the entire week now, Alex and Charlie had gone to extreme measures to avoid each other but Alex had enough. During Lunch Alex went outside to find Charlie and Marco sitting together eating their lunches. Every day Marco would take turns on who to eat lunch with, today it happened to be Charlie. Alex walked over to them to talk to Charlie who started to get up but Alex just pushed her to sit back down.

"we need to talk" Alex said facing Charlie who was facing Marco. "get lost homo" Alex said not even looking at Marco, usually she would make a joke but today she was in a serious mood.

"you do realize, you're gay too right?" Marco asked back. But now was not the time to make jokes. Alex shot Marco a quick glance and he left.

"we need to talk" Alex repeated as she was trying to get Charlie to look at her.

"no we don't" Charlie said quietly as she once again tried to get away from Alex, but she just pulled her back down.

"Charlie wait. This whole moving thing… it's just become one big mess. And I don't want it to be this way." Alex said. But Charlie just continued to ignore her.

"you know I'm going to stay here until you talk to me, even if it take all afternoon. And I'm going to keep you here with me" Alex said slyly but seriously.

"Alex… I.. I don't even know what to say" Charlie said looking down at the table.

"then let me help you. Say you want to finish your year at Degrassi, say you want to go to University here, say you want to stay with me" Alex said.

"I do, I want all of it, but I just can't. My-" Charlie said being cut off by Alex.

"no buts, why is there always a but?!" Alex shouted. "if you want it, go for it. What if your dad said to become a lawyer just like him, would you listen?" Alex asked trying to prove a point.

"well, no-" Charlie started

"then how is this any different?" Alex asked.

"Alex, it's just that if I stayed here, I would need my own apartment, I would need to find one, and move all of my stuff in there in less than a week all while doing homework and spending time with you. Not to mention, how would I pay for the apartment? I don't have enough money for an apartment in downtown Toronto. I don't even have a job. And just to add to that, my parents would never let me live alone downtown." Charlie said glancing at Alex every so often.

"then here" Alex said as she pulled out a newspaper page from her bag.

"what's this?" Charlie asked opening it up. She saw several red circles on the page.

"it's a list of apartments in Toronto all for low prices." Alex said pointing them out.

"but how did you know…" Charlie started.

"that an apartment in Toronto would become an option? I didn't."

"But I don't understand…" Charlie said confused

"it doesn't matter right now, just look" Alex said pointing to the newspaper again.

"Alex, it's great, it really is but I still don't know. My parents would never agree to something like this." Charlie said staring at the paper.

"listen, just ask them. They might go for it, after all your parents did buy you a jaguar as a guilt trip when you moved, and plus you're going to have to move out one day." Alex said

"yeah, but it's not just that. My parents already think Toronto is a dangerous place, and an 18 year old living by her self wouldn't thrill them too much."

"so I'll move in with you. I mean I've got to move out of my mom's place sooner or later."

"Alex…" Charlie started to say but the bell interrupted her.

"just think about it, would you?" Alex said getting up from her seat to go back into the school. Charlie didn't even answer, she just folded up the newspaper and put it in her pocket and went back to class.

Later that day Charlie was sitting at home lying face down on her bed, propped up on her elbows just reading over the newspaper ads. Would she actually be able to pull it off? She could finally live with Alex and live like a real person, instead of staying with her parents forever.

"Charlie, do you have any laundry that needs to be done?" Mrs. Barker asked walking into Charlie's bedroom unannounced. Charlie quickly hid the newspaper under her pillow, not wanting her mother to see it.

"uh yeah, over there" Charlie said pointing to a basket in the corner of her room. "mom, can I ask you something?"

"sure Charlie, what is it?" Mrs. Barker said sitting down on the bed next to Charlie.

"…" Charlie, couldn't find the words to talk to her mother, how was she supposed to tell her that she wanted to move out? To move in with her girlfriend, while her family moves away to Chicago. "never mind, it's not important" Charlie said getting up.

"where are you going?" she asked.

"just out for a drive" Charlie said exiting the room. Charlie drove out to the spot where she and Alex usually go to look at stars. But seeing as it was still sunlight out she didn't bother getting out of the car. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Alex's number.

"hello?"

"did you really mean what you said?"

"Charlie?" Alex asked.

"yeah, did you really mean it?" she asked again

"of course I did" Alex said convincingly "why? Have you talked to your parents yet?" she asked eagerly

"no. I've got to go" Charlie said.

"wait, whether or not you choose to stay here with me or move to Chicago with your parents you should know, I'm moving into one of the apartments circled on the list. I want you to be my room mate, but if you leave I'll find someone else. I'm moving into the apartment at 1421 Queen street, in a couple of days. It's apartment 3C" Alex said and hung up the phone. Charlie thought for a second she could either move to Chicago or move in with Alex. Sometimes Charlie wished that someone would make the decisions for her, the ones that she just couldn't decide on, the ones… like this one.

The day had finally come, it was the day that Charlie was moving. Charlie and her family were all packed up and the house was empty. Marco had come by to say his farewells to Charlie.

"I'm going to miss you Charlie" Marco said hugging her.

"I'm going to miss you too, my gay friend" Charlie said.

"I'm going to miss the way you make fun of my sexuality, even though you're gay too!" he said making Charlie laugh. "Have you talked to Alex?"

"no." she replied bluntly.

"Charlie…" Marco said accusingly. "You haven't said goodbye to your girlfriend yet?"

"she doesn't even know I'm leaving right now."

"what? Are you crazy?" Marco asked

"Marco, I can't, it would just be too… hard" Charlie said.

"Charlie, trying to forget someone you love is like… trying to remember someone you've never met, it's just impossible. Listen, you and I both know that you love her and she loves you it's just meant to be, it's fate." He said with his whole heart.

"no. If fate comes into play we'll end up together in the future." Charlie said walking towards her parents.

"Charlie, sometimes you have to make your own fate." Marco yelled out to Charlie who just kept walking away. Charlie got in the cab with her parents and started to drive. Charlie started tearing up at the fact that she was leaving everything and _everyone_ behind.

"mom, dad, can I ask you something?" Charlie said.

"you're only allowed 1 carry on bag on the plane sweetie" Charlie father said.

"no, actually that's not what I was going to ask. You liked Alex right?" she asked looking at them both.

"of course we did, Charlie" her mother said.

"would you ever let me… move in with her, you know just me and her… here in Toronto?" Charlie asked slowly to make sure their were no complications. Charlie's mother was about to say something, but Mr. Barker beat her to the punch.

"absolutely not" he said plainly.

"what? Why not?" Charlie asked surprised.

"Charlie, you are too young to be living by your self in Toronto" he said.

"but I said I'd live with Alex"

"Charlie, you and I both know that your relationship with her wouldn't last." Her mother, of all people, said straight to her face. Charlie just looked hurt, her parents didn't think that she would end up with Alex, even though they knew she loved her. Charlie just couldn't believe it.

Mean while at Alex's apartment she got a call from Marco on her cell phone.

"hello?" she answered.

"Alex, she's leaving today!" he said frantically.

"Marco, calm down. Is she going to Chicago?" Alex asked calmly.

"well she got into the cab with her parents and she's on the way to the airport the last time I checked" he said.

"okay" she said and hung up the phone. Charlie was on her way to the airport at this very second, but Alex had hope. She thought that it's not too late, not until she gets on that plane. Until then Alex would sit there in her apartment, on her couch waiting for her. She would just sit there staring at the door waiting for Charlie to burst through.

Her plane would take off at 6:00pm. Alex looked at the clock, the bright, red numbers, 5:49 it read. She still had 11 minutes. After that Alex would finally know if Charlie chose her, or Chicago. Every minute that passed by Alex would worry a bit more. _10 minutes left_ she thought to herself, that was plenty of time for one person to walk in and change her life. The more Alex thought about it, the more she would convince herself that she would walk in any minute, but at the same time she knew, the more she built it up the bigger the let down would be if she didn't show up. What was she supposed to do without Charlie, she had spent the last 3 and a half months with this girl, it was weird just sitting here with out her. Imagine how weird it would be living with _another_ person for the next four years, if not more. A few more minutes had gone by, it was 5:57pm now, and Charlie had three minutes left. Alex looked down at the cell phone in her hand, _no new messages_ Alex read. If Charlie tried to call her she would be ready, but she would much rather see her than call her. Just then her phone rang.

She looked down at the screen to see who it was, and to her disappointment it wasn't Charlie.

"what is it Marco?" Alex asked sadly.

"so listen, I was thinking, I could come see your new place, and we could pig out on some 'my girlfriend AKA the love of my life just left me' food and talk about it."

"Marco!" Alex said in an angry tone.

"I'm sorry. Listen I'll be there in like two minutes just hang on." Marco said and hung up the phone.

"bye to you too" Alex said to a dial tone knowing Marco had already hung up. She looked back up at the clock. 5:59pm, it was now or never. Then she heard her phone ring again. This time it wasn't Marco.

"hello?" Alex answered as if she was about to cry.

"so I was in the cab with my parents and I finally got up the courage to ask them if I could move in with you in downtown Toronto. And they flat out said no. So, picture this me, sitting in an airport with my carry on bag on my lap and I started to think. My parents have always told me what to do, where to go, what to become, but then it hit me. I have never told my parents what I think, what I want, so I turned to them and I said 'mom, dad, I am 18 years old and I think I am old enough to make my own decisions in life.'" Said Charlie.

"and what did they say?" Alex asked hanging on to every word that came out of Charlie's mouth.

"they said when we get to Chicago I can have first pick at what ever room in the house I want" Charlie said jokingly. "but I had something else in mind"

Just then someone knocked at the door. Alex was angry as hell that someone was interrupting her conversation with Charlie, but she thought it would probably just be Marco with his comfort food.

"hold that thought just for one second" Alex said into the phone as she got up to answer the door. She opened it to see someone who was not Marco. She was absolutely speechless. It was Charlie, standing there a suit case in one hand, a duffel bag in the other and a shoulder bag wrapped around her body. She still had the phone to her ear, and tears in her eyes.

"I told them I had something else in mind, the person I loved was here in Toronto" Charlie said and closed her phone. Alex was in so much shock she couldn't move, she still even had the phone to her ear.

"but I thought your plane left at 6:00pm" Alex said looking at the clock, it said 6:01pm.

"it did, but a good friend reminded me that it's impossible to forget someone who you truly love. And plus Paige, kind of convinced me." Charlie said closing Alex's phone for her.

"Paige?" Alex asked.

"yeah, she kind of talked to me in the bathroom one day and it got me thinking, well that and the newspaper you showed me" Charlie said with a sigh.

"uh, confession" Alex said as she let out a heavy sigh "Paige kind of left that newspaper in my locker and yeah…" Alex said like she felt a little guilty.

"I guess we have Paige to thank for saving our relationship" Charlie said with tears of joy streaking down her face. She took a step closer to Alex who was still in the hall.

"I guess so…" she said stepping even closer while smiling, but still with tears in her eyes. Just the sight of Charlie crying was enough to get Alex going.

"but I don't get it, what happened with your parents?" Alex asked confused.

"I told you, I had something else in mind… _you_ were that something" Charlie said now only inches away from Alex's face. Alex couldn't help but stare into her eyes, it just felt right.

"I love you" Alex said pulling Charlie in closer to her body. Alex had tears going down her face, it wasn't because she was sad or anything. But they were tears of joy, her girlfriend finally came back to her and now they could be together. She was crying because she loved Charlie so much.

"I love you too" Charlie said as she and Alex kissed in the hallway, like they had never kissed before. It was one of those kisses where you see in the end of every great romantic movie. The best of the best kind of kisses, the ones that people in 50 years would still remember. They didn't care who was around or if the building was burning down. Nothing was going to stop them from being together right now.

"aww, look, it's a couple of gay kids making out in the hallway" a familiar voice said down the hall.

"you're gay too" Alex and Charlie said at the same time finally breaking the kiss. They were so caught up in the moment they didn't even bother breaking eye contact.

"what are you guys doing?" Marco asked as he saw the two girls as if they were in a trance.

"we're just… enjoying the moment" Alex said still staring into Charlie's eyes.

"Well so much for comfort food. I went down to the market to buy all this ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate and various fruits and came down here just to see you two making out." He said holding up a paper bag.

Charlie and Alex just looked at each other slyly.

"whipped cream?" Charlie asked.

"various fruits?" Alex asked.

"yeah, why?" Marco asked.

Alex grabbed the bag from Marco's hands and Charlie grabbed her bags out in the hallway and they both quickly ran into the apartment.

"oh I see how it is!" Marco yelled to a now closed door. "…gotta love being gay" Marco said as he walked away. He knew what they were doing on the other side of the door, he just smiled. Not at the fact that they were 'enjoying the moment' but the fact that they were together, that they were meant to be together, and they would last. To Charlie and Alex 'enjoying the moment' could mean different things. Yes one of them was sex, but it was also sitting in each other's arms during that perfect sunset, or sitting in a mess of cookie dough, but what ever they meant by enjoying the moment, it always turned out that they enjoy that moment together. And if they could, they would enjoy the moment forever.


	26. Chapter 26

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hey guys I just wanted to let you know that I've posted my new story 'The New Girl 2' the sequel to the New Girl… obviously. So I just wanted to inform you, I hope you enjoy it!

-Peace&Love


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